It’s been a busy month. I’ve managed to produce almost 40,000 words of the first draft of my first novella (being the first in the series, not the first I’ve written). And I’ve read a few books …
Three more sets of writing awards have been announced this week … so I’m here to share the winners with you.
The 2016 RITA® Award Winners
The RITA® Awards are run by Romance Writers of America, and are named after the organisation’s first president, Rita Clay Estrada. The Awards are specifically for romance novels, in a range of sub-genres (including Inspirational) and lengths (including long, short and novella).
Inspirational Romance
A Noble Masquerade by Kristi Ann Hunter
Historical Romance – Long
Tiffany Girl by Deeanne Gist (Howard Books)
The 2016 Grace Award Winners
The Grace Awards were established in 2010 to “expand the tent pegs of Christian fiction”. They allow traditionally published and self-published novels, and make no distinction between paper or digital formats: anyone can enter, as long as the book is Christian Fiction. The 2016 winners were:
We spent a family night at the movies a couple of weeks back, seeing the latest New Zealand blockbuster, Hunt for the Wilderpeople. I thought we were the last people in the country to see it, because it’s already been playing cinemas for three months, so I was a little surprised to see the cinema was almost full.
Okay, so it only sat 70 people, but still …
Ricky Baker is a foster child, a kid who has grown up in the system and earned himself a reputation as a real bad egg. His placement with Aunt Bella is his last stop before juvie. So when the unthinkable happens he does what any normal teen would do: fakes his own death and runs off into the bush. Uncle Hector (aka Heck) is obliged to follow, because no responsible adult is going to leave a town kid lost in the bush. Especially not after he’s shown the level of bushcraft Ricky has shown.
One thing leads to another, and soon Ricky and Heck are on the run from the social worker, the police, the armed offenders squad (I suspect all of the armed offenders squad), intrepid hunters, a nutty conspiracy theorist, and some wild pigs.
It’s a toss-up as to who is the most dangerous, but I think Ricky wins. Or maybe the pigs.
Underneath the comedy and bluster and farce, Hunter for the Wilderpeople a tale of family. It’s based on a novel Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump, and stars Sam Neill, Rhys Darby and Julian Dennison.
Those of us who were alive in the eighties and remember Crumpy’s TV ads for Toyota enjoyed the vintage Toyota ute in the film, and the cameo from Scotty, Crumpy’s townie offsider.
Yes, he’s looking a bit older 🙂
It is one of those movies where the extended trailer tells you most of the story. Here it is:
Yes, the New Zealand bush really looks like that.
Yes, the prison at the end of the movie is a real prison.
No, we don’t all have guns. Although if we were all going to meet pigs like that, we’d need them.
No, the New Zealand police don’t usually carry weapons.
Although some highway patrols do, in case they come across escaped sheep endangering traffic. I found this out on last week’s episode of Highway Patrol.
And with that, I think I’ve given you enough of a picture of the “real” New Zealand for one week.
If you’ve signed up for my monthly Newsletter, you’ll already have receive my entirely biased list of 50 novels from my favourite Christian authors. If you haven’t, sign up on the right!
Five Days in May starts with the end: the “Big Ugly”, a massive tornado that strikes the town of Graham, Oklahoma, in May 1963. It then goes back five days to show in detail the lives of the townspeople—who know nothing. The reader knows what’s coming, but the characters are tied up in their everyday lives. There is no warning of the coming disaster.
There are four main characters.
Princess (Emily Prentice) is due to be executed in five days for murdering her baby sister. Mac, the widowed preacher has lost his faith in God. Jonas, Mac’s father-in-law, is caring for a wife with “old-timers” disease. Joy, Mac’s teenage daughter, has her own set of problems. There are also some fascinating yet disturbing minor characters, including Wanda and Jackson.
The characters are excellent. Princess has a distinct and engaging voice, and who “sees” things in a way that’s a cross between the movies Green Mile and Being John Malkovich. Joy is a typical teenager, so tied up in her own problems that she can’t see the wood for the trees. Mac is the typical father of a teenage daughter, in that he can’t relate to her and can barely hold a conversation with her. (I could relate—their relationship had a lot of similarities to the relationship between my husband and my daughter.)
The plot was complex, a tangled web of relationships. While I did guess one of the major plot points before it was revealed, that only added to the tension. Was I right? What would the characters think and say when they found out? I was right, but the reaction of one character in particular surprised me. Another behaved exactly true to character … but justice was served in the end, albeit not in the tidy way I perhaps expected.
There are ‘rules’ of writing.
These rules say authors should limit the number of viewpoint characters, and shouldn’t use omniscient point of view. Hammon ‘broke’ both rules in Five Days in May, yet in such a way that it didn’t detract from the story. Rather, it added to the tension (especially given how unhinged some of these characters were …)
While Five Days in May isn’t specifically Christian fiction, there are strong Christian themes of love and sacrifice. These themes underpin a story that is, quite simply, brilliant in both concept and execution. Recommended.
Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Ninie Hammon at her website, or check out our interview. And here’s the book trailer:
It’s been a busy week in terms of awards for Christian fiction. American Christian Fiction Writers have announced the finalists in the Carol Awards (with the winners to be announced at their conference in August), and the 2016 Christy Award and 2016 INSPY Award winners have been announced.
Winners of the 2016 Christy and INSPY awards
So if you’ve been looking for a Christian novel to read, here are some great choices!
First up, the winners of the 2016 Christy Awards:
Book of the Year and Visionary:
The Five Times I Met Myself by James L. Rubart
Contemporary:
The Sea Keeper’s Daughters by Lisa Wingate
Contemporary Romance/Suspense:
The Wedding Chapel by Rachel Hauck
Contemporary Series:
Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Beth K. Vogt
First Novel:
Irish Meadows by Susan Anne Mason
Historical:
Secrets She Kept by Cathy Gohlke
Historical Romance:
Luther and Katharina by Jody Hedlund
Suspense:
Twisted Innocence by Terri Blackstock
Young Adult:
The Choosing by Rachelle Dekker
The only surprise for me on this list was the winner of First Novel—I attempted to read it, but found the heroine so unlikeable I couldn’t finish it. I can only assume she improved a lot by the end.
The 2016 INSPY Award winners are:
Contemporary Romance / Romantic Suspense
The Dandelion Field by Kathryn Springer
Debut Fiction
Jaded by Varina Denman
General Fiction
Secrets She Kept by Cathy Gohlke
Historical Romance
Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin
Young Adult
An Uncertain Choice by Jody Hedlund
Mystery/Thriller
The Bones Will Speak by Carrie Stuart Parks
Speculative Fiction
The Shock Of Night by Patrick Carr
I’m Thrilled To See Secrets She Kept On This List As Well—It Was An Outstanding Novel (And, In Fact, Cathy Gohlke Won This Category Last Year As Well, When I Was An Inspy Judge).
And the finalists for the Carol Awards are:
Contemporary:
Finding Me by Kathryn Cushman
The Art of Losing Yourself by Katie Ganshert
As Waters Gone By by Cynthia Ruchti
Historical:
Shadows of Ladenbrooke Manor by Melanie Dobson
Secrets She Kept by Cathy Gohlke
Luther and Katharina by Jody Hedlund
Historical Romance:
Beyond All Dreams by Elizabeth Camden
Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin
A Worthy Pursuit by Karen Witemeyer
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller:
The Aleppo Code by Terry Brennan
Blessings in Disguise by Nancy Mehl
Finding Amanda by Robin Patchen
What’s interesting about this category is that none of these are from ‘major’ Christian publishers.
Novella:
A Bride for Bear from The Convenient Bride Collection by Erica Vetsch
A Palace on the Plains from The Most Eligible Bachelor Romance Collection by Erica Vetsch
The Archaeologist’s Find from The Homestead Brides Collection by Erica Vetsch
Huge congratulations to Erica Vetsch, who obviously has this category sewn up!
Romance:
The Beekeeper’s Son by Kelly Irvin
Until the Harvest by Sarah Loudin Thomas
Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Beth K. Vogt
Romantic Suspense:
No Place to Hide by Lynette Eason
Submerged by Elizabeth Goddard
Miracle Drug by Richard L. Mabry, M.D.
Short Novel:
Covert Justice by Lynn Huggins Blackburn
The Christmas Family by Linda Goodnight
The Doctor’s Second Chance by Missy Tippens
Speculative:
Vinnie’s Diner by Jennifer AlLee
Heir of Hope by Morgan L. Busse
The Five Times I Met Myself by James L. Rubart
Young Adult:
Angelhood by A.J. Cattapan
The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson
Dauntless by Dina L. Sleiman
Debut:
The Thornbearer by Pepper Basham
The Calling of Ella McFarland by Linda Brooks Davis
The First Principle by Marissa Shrock
Another category where all the books are from smaller publishers, which is great news for authors.
If you’ve signed up for my monthly Newsletter, you’ll already have receive my entirely biased list of 50 novels from my favourite Christian authors. If you haven’t, sign up on the right!
Today I’m reviewing Secrets She Kept by Cathy Gohlke.
Well, Secrets She Kept blew Saving Amelie out of the water. Yes, it was that good. Goosebump good.
It’s a split timeline story—the modern story is set in 1972. Hannah Sterling’s mother has just died, and Hannah finds her mother was never entirely honest with her. For starters, Lieselotte wasn’t Austrian . . .
No. Lieselotte was German, living in Germany during the rise of Hitler and during World War II.
The past story is Lieselotte’s, during those life-changing war years. It’s not a happy story, but as we journey with both Hannah and Lieselotte, we discover what made Lieselotte the distant mother she was. It was the secrets she kept.
The writing, the research, the characters, the plot—all were outstanding. It’s one of the few split timeline stories I’ve read where the past and the present stories were equally compelling. Recommended.
Thanks to Tyndale House Publishers and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Cathy Gohlke at her website.
You can read the introduction to Secrets She Kept here:
I’m a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award for unpublished writers, in the Novella category. I can’t tell you anything about the story, not even the title, until the results are announced at the end of August. I can tell you it won’t be published any time soon (sorry!).
There’s a simple reason why not.
As I was writing, I realised two of the minor characters needed to have their story told. So I started writing that story . . . only to find that the story I’ve finished is actually the third in the series. Or maybe the fourth.
Whoops. So now I’m working on books one and two.
And I’ve been reading . . .
I offered to judge the 2016 CALEB Award for fiction. The CALEB Award is run by Omega Writers, and celebrates the best in Christian fiction from Australian and New Zealand authors. I had to read the first 50 pages of 22 novels, some of which I’d read before (or edited via Christian Editing Services). But many were new to me, and have added an unnecessary number of books to a to-read pile that never seems to get any smaller.
Have you read any of these novels? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.
All this judging means I’m behind on my personal reading, so I’ve got lots of books stacked up to read in July. What are you planning to read in July? Leave a comment—let’s swap ideas!
If you’ve signed up for my monthly Newsletter, you’ll already have receive my entirely biased list of 50 novels from my favourite Christian authors. If you haven’t, sign up on the right!
Today I’m reviewing Dangerous Passage by Lisa Harris.
Dangerous Passage
Excellent Romantic suspense.
Atlanta Detective Avery North has just been called in from her day off to investigate a murder. The victim was a young Asian female with a magnolia tattoo. It’s similar to a recent unsolved crime, and Avery wants to solve this murder before another girl suffers the same fate.
She is assisted by her partner, Mitch, and by Jackson Bryant, the associate medical examiner for the force. Avery has recently started dating Jackson. He’s the first man she’s had more than one date with since her husband died three years ago.
Avery also has family issues. Her father has recently retired from the police force, her brother was murdered four months earlier, and his killer is still at large. She struggles to balance the competing demands of God, family, a full-time job and now dating, and this felt very real.
Dangerous Passage is the first book in the new Southern Crimes series, and I’ll certainly be keen to read more in the series.
It’s got everything I look for in Christian romantic suspense: intelligent and likeable yet imperfect characters, a strong plot with plenty of suspense and a developing romantic subplot, good writing, and an underlying Christian theme.
It deals with big issues—modern slavery—but manages to do it without getting too graphic. Recommended.
Thanks to Revell and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Lisa Harris at her website.
I have been a reader for a long time. The class bookworm (never meant as a compliment).
I was one of the first people in New Zealand to get a Kobo ereader, and I bought my first Kindle via mail order within weeks of Amazon announcing they now shipped to New Zealand. I love Goodreads: it’s where I first met people who had the same childhood stories I had, who didn’t think reading a book a week was a lot (hey, some of my Goodreads friends read a book a day and don’t consider themselves heavy readers).
In the years before the internet, I was the kid who read Nancy Drew novels at seven, the teen who read by torchlight under the bedcovers, and the adult who read everything I could lay my eyes on.
Sound familiar?
I was the child who was teased for using “big” words, who was asked if I’d swallowed a dictionary. For the record, apt is not a big word, and it’s officially at fifth-grade level in the US (a ten-year-old). So me using “apt” at fifteen shouldn’t have been worthy of comment.
This is why Con Air is one of my favourite movies (you didn’t see that one coming, did you?). There’s this scene where John Cusack’s character is describing an off-stage character to a DEA agent (played by Colm Meaney):
John Cusack: He’s known to be somewhat garrulous in the company of thieves. Colm Meaney: Garrulous. What is garrulous? John Cusack: That would be loquacious, verbose, effusive. How about chatty? DEA agent: What’s with dictionary boy? [in demeaning tone] John Cusack: I think thesaurus boy would be more appropriate.
You can watch it yourself: it starts at the 53 second mark in this video (note that Meaney’s character has a potty mouth, unlike Cusack’s character). And that’s why I adore John Cusack. Well, Vince Larkin. Yes, I know Cusack didn’t write the lines. But he delivered them like he could relate.
If I’d seen that movie when I was in high school, I would have had the perfect comeback to, “did you swallow a dictionary?”
If you’ve signed up for my monthly Newsletter, you’ll already have receive my entirely biased list of 50 novels from my favourite Christian authors. If you haven’t, sign up on the right!
Today I’m reviewing One Last Thing by Rebecca St James and Nancy Rue.
One Last Thing
An Exceptional Tale of Contemporary Issues
Tara Faulkner is marrying Seth Grissom: her brother’s best friend, the son of their pastor, and the guy she’s loved for ten years. But they have a strange argument three weeks before the wedding, and when she returns to discuss it with Seth, she finds him doing something awful.
He promises he’ll change and never do it again, and she wants to believe him. After all, the alternative is cancelling the wedding. But when she finds he lied, she does just that—but he makes her promise not to tell anyone why. This leaves her dealing with all the fallout, not least two families blaming her for the cancellation.
One Last Thing is written entirely in first person point of view from Tara’s viewpoint. This normally only works for complex characters, and Tara wasn’t complex, at least not in the beginning. She was the perfect pampered Southern princess, and while she hasn’t lived an entirely sheltered life, her family is financially stable and she’s always been given the best of everything. She attends church with her family, but there was little indication she had any personal faith: something that’s normally a must in Christian fiction, especially Christian romance.
At first I was a little frustrated that Seth, a Christian man who worked for a mission organisation, was planning to marry a woman who had little or no personal faith of her own. But as the novel progressed, Tara began to search for God … and it explained why Seth was prepared to be “unequally yoked”.
The explanation was misogynistic or hypocritical or possibly both, but it worked. And it worked without making me feel as though my emotions were being manipulated.
That’s strong writing.
The more Tara digs into Seth’s issues, the more she finds out, and the more secrets she has to keep from her friends, her family, and from Seth’s family. The only person who has any sympathy for her is Seth’s younger sister—who’s seen as a troublemaker. She is helped in her troubled journey by a disparate group of ladies she meets while working in a local coffee shop—her first-ever job.
Tara slowly discovers Seth’s issues, and strangely, this allows us to move from repugnance to sympathy for his problems while still acknowledging Tara did the right thing. Seth acknowledges that he has to take responsibility for his own actions, especially when they have hurt others. This is as a positive thing.
I wish it didn’t, but it does, and One Last Thing does an excellent job in sensitively fictionalising a growing problem in society.
It’s not easy reading, and it’s not nice. But it is real. Unfortunately.
Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Rebecca St James and Nancy Rue at their websites.
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