News for September 22nd 2010

Tosca Lee guest blogged at the New Authors' Fellowship, on how she got to being published:
http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/special-guest-tosca-lee

P.A. Baines also guest blogged at Inkwell Inspirations on the topic of technology development:
http://inkwellinspirations.blogspot.com/2010/09/welcome-guest-blogger-author-pa-baines.html

Matt Koceich is a guest blogger at Speculative Faith, talking about House by Dekker and Peretti:
http://www.speculativefaith.com/2010/09/guest-blogger-matt-koceich/

Interview with Jeff Gerke at AuthorCulture:
http://authorculture.blogspot.com/2010/09/interview-with-marcher-lord-press.html 

News for September 20th 2010

Checked out Tosca Lee's guest blog at The New Authors' Fellowship? No? She shared the story of her journey to publication:
http://newauthors.wordpress.com/

This from Mike Lynch:Taylor Kent at Snark Infested Waters was kind enough to interview Brandon and I about the release of our latest novel, American Midnight: 

http://thesnarkyavenger.com/2010/09/15/snark-infested-waters-for-9152009-michael-lynch-and-brandon-barr-authors-of-american-midnight/


Encounter 10: Jeffrey Overstreet on the how of storytelling from International Arts Movement on Vimeo.

A new review of The Word Unleashed by Steve Rzasa, reviewed by Bill Hayes:
http://holyspeculation.blogspot.com/2010/09/book-review-word-unleashed.html

Marc Schooley reviews Alpha Redemption by P.A. Baines: "Move over, Hal...meet Jay."
http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/alpha-redemption-winner-review-and-interview/2/

Keven Newsome interviews Jay, the computer from Alpha Redemption:
http://newauthors.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/alpha-redemption-winner-review-and-interview/3/

News for September 17th 2010

Tosca Lee guest blogs at The New Authors' Fellowship, sharing the story of her journey to publication! This Saturday, the 18th.Watch out for that at:
http://newauthors.wordpress.com/

Be sure and check out the new site and very cool book trailer for Stephen Lawhead's new project, Bright Empires - Book 1, The Skin Map.
http://www.thebrightempires.com/

Terri Main describes how she goes about writing a mystery:
http://mizging.blogspot.com/2010/09/welcome-terri-main.html

Ray Gun Revival ezine is on the move, and just in case their main site at http://raygunrevival.com goes dark, here is where to find them in the meantime - this from Johne Cook:

Where will we find the issues? For now, all issues are up at Scribd, and that will be the default location. I'd also like to host all the issues elsewhere, and I may put them up on my own server.
Where will we find RGR? We're going to be all over the place. While our permanent home in exile is still be wrangled, you can find us in these other places:
SFReader forums: http://forums.sfreader.com/forumdisplay.php/69-Ray-Gun-Revival
RGR In Exile forums: http://loriendil.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=19&start=0
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rgrzine
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ray-Gun-Revival-magazine/125245128369
E-mail: rgrzine@gmail.com
Remember, if you have submissions for RGR 2.0 (wherever we end up) you can start to send in your Subs now to rgrzine@gmail.com with '[sub]' somewhere in the Subject line.

This week's updates from Laser & Sword Ezine:

http://lasersword.adamsweb.us/the-great-search-part-two/ Small Packages observes heroes falling in crazy in love while others just go plain crazy. (The Great Search, Part Two)

http://lasersword.adamsweb.us/the-emerald-avenger-v-the-corruptibles-part-one/  Marco tries to solve the problem of the Emerald Avenger with his usual method. (The Emerald Avenger v. the Corruptibles, Part One)

http://lasersword.adamsweb.us/countdown-part-eleven/ Snyder and Dread meet the woman who plans to depopulate Earth. (Countdown, Part Eleven.)

Defining Magic in Christian Fiction

Please welcome our first guest blogger of the new era - the one and
only Andrea Graham, as she defines magic according to Biblical principles...

Stage magic: smoke and mirrors. Illusions of natural origin without any supernatural power involved. Only scripture anyone could possibly hang someone who does this on is to avoid even the appearance of evil.

Magic as the Bible defines it: supernatural power given by demons rather than by God. This magic is by definition evil (whatever its color) and is strictly forbidden in the bible with no exceptions. Before the Cross, those who practiced it were to be stoned. After the cross, in Acts, the Church had occultists who repented and embraced Christ burn their spell books, a way of renouncing their old way of life and completely turning their backs on their former allegiance.

Spiritual gift: supernatural power that comes *directly* from God. This is the real deal that the devil seeks to imitate (crudely) and counterfeit via magic. The bible contains very specific lists of supernatural abilities that God gives, plus Christ's miracles--in His first coming, He laid His own power aside relied upon the same Holy
Spirit that empowers His people.

Note the confusion between the first two is precisely why wiccans spell their magic as "magick," to differentiate it from stage variety.

Also, in Fantasy, to be biblical, you mainly need to make it clear that any supernatural power the good guys use comes DIRECTLY from the Lord God (Jehovah/YHWH/Whatever name you give Him). The bad guys can use all the magic they want, but it needs to be the inferior crude imitation that the reality is, or at least the good guys need to make such a distinction and not use the same terms to describe their power.
Now, an apprentice good guy may well have to wonder, "if their power is so inferior, why are they whipping our tails?" (A: because the bad are often better at being bad than we are at being good)

In Science Fiction, you can do technological miracles, which are by definition natural and hence not magic. For instance, in the Order of the Sword (a Laser & Sword serial) the Sword's sidekick, er, equal partner, Revelator invented a nanobiotic device that can detect and interpret brainwaves, which he can mentally block or focus in on to eavesdrop on folks' thoughts. He also has the device set to unconsciously scan the brainwaves of those around him and inform him of any danger. Voilà, demon-free telepathy. Laser & Sword invented this technological miracle because the first draft had our assistant editor (that would be me) threatening to resign.

Of course, God knows everything, and can reveal what He pleases to whom He pleases; we call this prophecy. In practical practice, it takes discernment and a firmly grounded knowledge of God's Word to distinguish between God's power, Satan's counterfeit, and human error.

In Christ's Truth,
Andrea Graham

Submission Guidelines

Today I want to outline some of the items we'll be including in posts to this blog. Remember, anytime you have news of the Lost Genre, let us know: webmaster at lostgenreguild dot com.

Definition
To qualify as Lost Genre News, the works we promote must be Christian and also fall into the speculative genre - that is, science fiction, fantasy, horror, or any subgenre of these.

New Releases
The Lost Genre is growing every day, and we want to help the fans keep up with it. Not restricted to members of the Lost Genre Guild, we aim to cover everything that happens in our sphere of interest.

E-zine Updates
The non-paper equivalent of New Releases. There's more to discover!

Websites
Because we're just beginning to blog news, this section is not restricted to new sites. We'll be glad to feature any Lost Genre locations.

Author News
Now we get down to the nitty-gritty. Authors may submit their personal news as related to writing and publishing the Lost Genre. Finished a draft? Signed a contract? Have a cover or release date for your coming opus? Let's hear about it.

Industry News
Which publishers are courting the Lost Genre? Where's the next big thing going to happen?

Randomness
If it didn't fit anywhere else, it might still fit. Contests, reviews, book trailers, author blogs, and the like.

Guest Bloggers...
...are most welcome. If you have something to say about an aspect of the Lost Genre, then say it (short 'n' sweet please, let's say 400 words max) and submit it. We'll be glad to feature guest bloggers up to once a week. Note: This should be aimed mainly at readers, not writers! Exceptions not excluded.

For Writers
We won't forget you! If there's a site to help out budding (or flowering or fruiting) writers, we'll list it here for you as it comes to light.

Let the fun begin!