A sincere thank you to those of you who have read The Dark Man. For those who haven’t, you may purchase it here, here, or here.
I’d like to offer a free, signed copy of the The Dark Man to the best response to the following question: What is the state of American Christianity today?
Email responses here. Thanks again, good providence, and I may choose to feature the winning answer in an upcoming post.
God Bless,
Marc Schooley
Hey, Marc. I am inordinately pleased that you are encouraged by the review. I am a fussy reader, so I’m also inordinately pleased to find a book that clicks with my aesthetic. You and Quixote are quite welcome to pop by Sc>Sc anytime your schedules permit.
It’s on my to-do list to submit to MLP, but looking at this round of releases, I’m going, holey Sunday socks, Batman, time to get my game on. [insert wicked grin of delight here] That’s such a good thing! “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” (Heb 10:24)
Salut,
Cat
I got behind on obtaining the new list of MLP books. Got yours first and am currently reading through it. Once I finish, I’ll see about answering this question you have posed and sending it to you.
The concept of your book as outlined in Jeff’s initial e-mail so many months ago to tell us what the new books were drew me to it above the other two – and that was a hard draw because I really liked the ideas of the other two as well, but something about how Jeff described your book put it ahead of the other two for me. Now that I’m reading it, some of the things I initially thought about it were apparently not exactly what you’ve written. One of the things I was imagining was a more covert novel about Christianity while this is certainly more overt (i.e. Dekker’s Circle series vs. LaHaye and Jenkin’s Left Behind series – both are great series, but one’s covert while the other’s overt).
What you’ve written that I’ve read so far I’m enjoying even though my personal taste with Christian fiction is more with the covert than the overt ones, but one of the things I like about this more overt story is that it’s similar in concept to a short story I wrote a few years back and I can see why you went with MLP for this. Particularly the second chapter where Charles busts up the meeting in the bowling alley had a lot of similarities to what I had written. Plus, you’ve gone a completely different route than I was thinking with my story.
I’m looking forward to how it continues past the middle and then how it all wraps up at the end. I’ll let you know what I think of it when I send you my answer to your question.
Hey, thanks for the note David, and a sincere personal thanks for reading The Dark Man. I’ll be looking forward to hearing from you, and please report back: good, bad, or otherwise.
One interesting thing about fiction is that we can begin with similar premisses and wind up on essentially disparate and divergent paths, which means we can mine our similarities and both strike an ore worth the effort. So press on, my friend…and if you’ve got any past, present, or future projects, be sure and let me know.
I’ve completed my read of “Starfire” and it’s well worth the read. Great characters, fantastic action, and a bit covert with its Christianity, as think you intend in your comment. I’m halfway through “By Darkness Hid” and enjoying it as well.
Please let me know when “Beyond the Charts” is up and running. Sounds interesting. Dizzyjam…sounds very familiar. Where have we run across each other previously, I’m wondering…
Since I’m not sure if you’re being jokingly facetious (while I can be overly redundant) or if you truly are wondering (and since I have no idea what your screen name may be if this is true), perhaps you’ve seen me over on Jeff’s forum a time or two where I use the screen name “dizzyjam”. I’ve been posting quite a bit over there since September/October of last year and recently started a thread about Beyond the Charts titled as such on there after the initial thread about it just didn’t seem right for updates anymore. Plus I frequent other forums where I usually don’t use my name outright, I typically will use “dizzyjam” (which is why I use it with my name in the kind of posts like you have here – for recognition purposes), so if you saw me on any of those forums that may be why you’re wondering.
And I am looking forward to those other two books you’ve mentioned from MLP. I’ll either get them before the end of the month or just after the beginning of the next month. They really do seem to be the more covert of the three in the second list. Not that overt is necessarily bad as you are proving quite well in your own book.
So, I read some more of your book between postings and I must say I am even more impressed with your writing ability as the story moves along than what I had read from the beginning – which was good enough to make me post the first time. I love your characterizations. And the situations get pretty thick. I read a review where someone was criticizing that some of your other characters seemed mentally unstable too and that took away from Charles Graves’ unstability, but as I’m reading this, the impression I’m getting is more like demons talking to the other ones, and yes, Charles Graves is definitely unstable with or without demons. Am I correct in thinking this way about the “thoughts” running through the other people’s minds?
Overall, the book is a great read so far and when I finish it, I’ll certainly let you know just what I think about the ending and the overall feel from the book.
Maybe, if you wish, one day I’ll e-mail you a copy of the short story I wrote, or if you actually are on Jeff’s forum, you might be able to find it there somewhere as I had started a thread with it at one time to get feedback. It’s not the best writing, and it was sort of a reaction story to some ideas I was getting tired of hearing about when I wrote it, but it is what it is.
Finally, thanks for replying so quickly! I just thought I’d check in to read some more off of your site when I saw that you had posted in the very topic I had posted earlier. Much to my surprise you were responding to me. Thanks again for the reply, and I hope that the sequel you’re writing will be as thrilling as the one I’m reading now.
In response to your question: What is the state of American Christianity?
I can only answer from my Jewish perspective. My answer is that more and more christians are leaving the church and following the Jews in their love of Torah.
Zechariah 8:23
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
visit my site so that you can understand my statement. I have links of such people – myself included
DizzyJam,
No, I wasn’t being facetious in the least. Perhaps Jeff’s forum is where I saw it, seems the most likely place…or maybe it was at another forum. At any rate, it’s distinctive and I’m certain I recall it from somewhere. You must have made an impression.
I tried to follow your link, but it says “under construction.” I’ll check you out over at Jeff’s.
“Am I correct in thinking this way about the “thoughts” running through the other people’s minds?”
I won’t spoil the plot for you:)
My email is posted here. Please feel free to email at any time, and I’d enjoy reading whatever you feel comfortable sending.
“It’s not the best writing”
From what you’ve written so far, I’m guessing it’s pretty good, actually. You’re always welcome here, and I’ll always reply as quickly as I am able. God bless, Dizzy, and drop by any time…
It probably was Jeff’s forum, though I don’t know your screen name over there. Care to share?
And the link that said “Under Construction” was to the website I’m developing for my online store. Since it’s not developed yet, I’ve got that up for now. I rearranged it today, so it should have said more than just Under Construction at this point. I’ll have to check again and make sure.
And the story is called “The Martyrdom of Christy”. I can’t remember if that’s what I titled the thread or not, but you can check with Jeff’s forum to see. If you don’t find it there, just e-mail me and I’ll send it to you for your perusal.
And finally, thanks for the invite to drop by. I’m prone to over message people, though, so be forewarned.
May God’s blessings also rest on you.
“And finally, thanks for the invite to drop by. I’m prone to over message people, though, so be forewarned.”
No worries, mate…fire away. Your website additions are coming through clearly now.
The state of American Christianity? I think the Church is entering a new season a very grand one at that. While things may be looking bleak for our way of life due to current political change, I think we are going to see incredible revival like never before. Revival that is not isolated to a geographical area or a particular denomination, but a widespread maturity in the body of Christ to where we see the reality of the Kingdom being lived out in amazing proportions. Supernaturally living is going to become much more common place to those walking with the Lord. Yes, there will be dark times, yes it may get darker still before it gets brighter, but the Church will be shaken with that which is unshakable remaining. We are promised an age of the Kingdom and I believe we will see a deeper more tangible reality of it in the coming years. If we as Christians are seeing clearly we will see the future with hope, true hope full of substance of all that is promised. I see a Narnia transforming as in the Last Battle with the shadows slipping away to be replaced with the full glory of the reality of creation as it was intended to shine.
Karla,
Your optimism and faith is inspiring. & you know I love CS Lewis:) God bless…