Infatuated with this review!

I've been blessed with so many wonderful reviews in spite of not having the sort of following an established author would have that it's always exciting to get a review from an author who is established. Jon Guenther is just that and then some. I would elaborate but his newly designed I-hate-you-for-being-so-talented website at www.guenfire.com says it way better than I can. ;)

Okay, Sue so why so infatuated with this review?

Because Jon Guenther helped answer a lot of questions I had. See, I thought that if I simply waited a little longer, earned a few more grand reviews from high profile authors, sold a few more books that maybe those larger publishers and specifically CBA and ECPA affiliated publishers, since their audience seem to enjoy my work so much, would actually respond to my queries with something other than, "I'm sorry. You're not what we're looking for right now?"

So how did Jon answer your question?

Well, I'll tell you. This grand and established author's agent at the time, got him a book deal with the founding publisher of CBA itself, Moody Press. Wow! Now we're talking, right? Nope. Shortly before the book went to press, Moody called agent Jon's agent and backed out of the contract. No reason but they did let him keep his advance.

So Jon did what he had to do to keep his story alive. He self-published through Amazon's POD Create Space. So now instead of flooding every CBA/larger Christian Bookstore with the absolutely best book since The Shack (actually better) it sits relatively unnoticed in POD hell. I know, right?

So welcome to the ranks of the unsung writers Jon. Thank you for giving this relatively new author a reason to keep writing.

Oh yeah, that's why I'm infatuated with this review! ;) 

Soul Runner is about Christians under persecution. Some irony don't you think.

Soul Runner by Jon Guenther - My Review

And now my five-star review of Soul Runner that I recently posted on Amazon.

Look out William P. Young. Here comes Jon Guenther!, January 7, 2010 (Ridgeland, MS USA) - I was so excited to learn about Jon Guenther and was even more excited when he volunteered to send me a copy of his book. As a new writer, I don't have a lot of time to read though and I told Jon this. I explained that I'd read what I could in the carpool line at school. HA! I dare you to try to read this book in short spurts. I double-dog dare you. Can't be done. No way. I found it difficult to find a place to stop reading when I eventually had to. I finally just quit reading when not-too-much was going on. For instance at one point I left two characters in a fist fight with the outcome pending simply because the alternative was to not quit reading. LOL Heart pounding action to be sure. So wonderful to see more Christian Fiction like The Shack coming from self-published, non-affiliated Christian authors who know what they're doing. I'm so happy CBA affiliated Moody Press dumped this book instead of publishing it, backing out of the contract at the last minute. No exclusive work here. Just good, solid, heart-thumping, action-packed fiction from a very talented author. Soul Runner will keep you reading until the very end and then begging for more. And what do you know, there's more coming! I can't wait.

Added for Sue's Blog:

Jon is calling his work Christian Fiction but it isn't CBA Christian Fiction. It is therefore written with no particular market of Christian's in mind actually. This also means that his work wasn't edited for that specific market of Christians CBA was formed to create fiction for in 1950.

Also, since CBA affiliated Moody Press did break Jon's contract, Soul Runner won't automatically show up in exclusive affiliated bookstores such as Lifeway or Mardel's nor will his work show up in CBA affiliated Christian bookstores such as ChristianBook.com. I actually found it interesting to see Soul Runner on Christianbook.com as being published by Moody Press early on but as par for the course, it no longer shows up because Jon isn't CBA affiliated. I find that--interesting.

I will tell you this, if you let Soul Runner slip by because you don't see it in these bookstores, you've missed out on a fantastic read!