Eric Wilson of Fireproof gives Never Ceese 4 Stars!

Say it ain't so? Yep. Some time back I earned a grand review from New York Times Best Selling author of the novelization of "Fireproof" Eric Wilson. He posted it on Amazon one day out of the blue. I didn't expect it and was quite surprised to even see it there. Why would a New York Times Best Selling Author of anything leave a review of one of my books.

Well as luck would have it, he posted it on Amazon who recently started removing reviews by authors on other authors books. Good thing I copied the review before they deleted it so here it is in all its glory!

Eric Wilson
September 6, 2007
4 Stars

Circling the Camp

Sue Dent has done the unthinkable. She's pushed the boundaries of Christian fiction, circling the camp with a small publisher, howling for someone to take notice. And it's working.

"Never Ceese" is a blend of traditional vampire themes and modern smart-mouthed characters. Ceese is a werewolf on her way to a British castle, where she will rendezvous with Richard the vampire. Ceese is in a constant struggle with "the wolf" inside, while Richard is trying to maintain a modicum of control over his fang-toothed desires. This unlikely pair, united by an old woman named Penny, discover they have mutual childhood links. As they travel to meet a young college-age researcher, their pasts come to light. Romance flits about in unexpected places. And a self-seeking professor angles to take their immortality for himself.

The standbys are in play--garlic, crucifixes, wolfsbane, etc--but Dent adds a few of her own elements to this classic battle between the old ways and new. There are few surprises, but the story moves at a quick pace, leavened with humorous dialogue and clever insights. Dent's characters struggle with their cursed sinful natures, seeking release--if such a thing is possible.

In the end, all is resolved--if not a bit suddenly on some levels--and possibilities are left open for the sequel, "Forever Richard." I guess I know what book to add to my Christmas list. With Dent circling the camp, someone's bound to wake up to this genre's possibilities.

 
Actually I've not done the unthinkable at all. In fact, as far as what he's talking about here, I've done nothing at all. I'm not circling any camp and no one in that camp cares at all that a puny little POD author even wrote a book. Ah but thanks for the kind words Mr. Wilson.

Honest Amazon strikes again!

Wow! I wondered why a notable "Best Selling" author in that circle of publishing that targets a specific denomination took down the resounding review of Never Ceese they left on Amazon. It had been up for nearly two years.

Not only do I wonder that, I also wonder HOW they did it.

I thought it was because perhaps they were done doing reviews but I just learned that this isn't the case at all. They just posted a new one.

How then? I can't even get Amazon to remove a 1 star review of a book that isn't even published anymore and no longer exists!!!!!

So how does this author get to remove a resounding review?

Hey Amazon!!!! What gives? Playing favorites again? Of course they are. This novelist scribes for one of those "bigger publishers" just in that targeted "Christian" market. That's how they earned the title "best-selling" novelists.

Oh well. So goes life.

Congrats Amazon! I'd shake your hand only I don't want to get it all slimy and stuff!!!

Oh and this author also put my name in the back of one of their books in a list of acknowledgements: those who helped support their writing. I was neither asked if my name could be put there nor do I support their writing as at the time they wrote for a large Christian publisher, Thomas Nelson, who openly discriminates against writers who don't write for their targeted audience of Christians.

Now, thanks to my name being there, my books show up with theirs wherever they're listed on-line!!!! ARGHHHHH!

Christian Horror Genre.

An intriguing question was asked of me last night during my interview with the wonderful Leo Steel (too bad if you missed it) and company concerning the genre of my book. I was asked about the genre Christian Horror! *gasp*

Sadly, I was asked this when there was very little time left to explain as this takes quite a bit of explaining ever since the Christian Booksellers Association (fee-based affiliation formed in 1950 by a group of Baptist bookstores) and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (CBA publishers affiliation formed in the seventies) came along.

Before CBA and ECPA, publishers whose writers wrote with any sort of religious slant to their work were simply put on stores shelves and categorized by the usual genres. Yes. There was Christian Horror then, if you will, there just wasn't any REAL reason to separate it out and create a "genre" for it.

Neither CBA nor ECPA affiliated publishers recognize the horror genre though they do call some of the work produced by some of their authors Christian horror (as they tag the label "Christian" onto everything they put out even though their work is very targeted and their affiliation is fee-based and denominationally restrictive.) But technically the work isn't horror at all. I know this because the affiliated publishers I contacted, Thomas Nelson, Waterbrook/Multnomah and quite a few others, explained that they would never stray into producing work that would fit into the classic "horror" genre as their core market readers wouldn't stand for it.

Yet both CBA and ECPA affiliated publishers apply the label Christian Horror to their work thus confusing and creating great chaos and forcing writers like me to explain just what Christian Horror is and more importantly, what it isn't.

On another note, publishers are allowed to put their book in whatever genre they feel it fits into without regard as to whether it fits or not which is really fine since bookstores can change this at will. To prove this point I will tell you that my first title was initially marked by my publisher as young adult (that's actually a genre believe it or not.) And even though this publisher did not pay to belong to CBA or ECPA but called themselves a Christian publisher my title (about a vampire and a werewolf, first showed up, when it did show up, next to Chicken Soup for the Soul in a non-fiction section at B&N.

Why? Because that's where B&N decided it needed to go. And I was through a small publisher so they didn't really care.

Do keep in mind that there is a ginormous difference between books approved for distribution to the Christian market by Spring Arbor and books put out by the fee-based CBA with the biggest one being that no publisher not affiliated with CBA or ECPA will ever show up in larger Christian bookstores on-line or otherwise because these stores are all supplied with books by CBA. They can order books approved by Spring Arbor but they won't carry them as a rule. There's an affiliated Lifeway Bookstore a stones throw from my house. When my books were approved for distribution to the Christian market I went back to tell the manager. He happily called Michael Robbins, (book buyer for all Lifeway stores at the time and I believe he still is) and was told by Mr. Robbins that Lifeway had not plans of carrying my work.

Wow! Just wow!

Calling my work Christian Horror for the most part is harmless so long as you keep in mind what I just wrote above. ;)

The Christian Manifesto Interview

I was so proud of this interview when I was asked to do it. It isn't often that a non-affiliated (CBA) author gets to talk about appealing to that audience from outside CBA's market. Excitement quickly dwindled though as blog was shortly moved to another site and link merely reported as broken. New site doesn't show pictures and I doubt anyone ever finds it. Oh well. I tried. Here's the link to part two of the interview . . . at least until it's moved again or completely deleted.

Actually, I learned shortly after the interview was moved about the broken link, reported about it here on my blog and was told where the new link was. BUT you have to absolutely LOOK for the new link and it doesn't show up on google searches as the other one did. The only link that shows up is the broken one and it doesn't redirect you. This is such a powerful interview and was getting a LOT of attention until it was moved (with pics not showing.) It's almost as if someone gave me a gift and then took it away to give to someone else. Oh well. Here are the links for what it's worth.

http://www.thechristianmanifesto.com/index.php/2008/12/16/an-interview-with-sue-dent-author-of-forever-richard-part-1-of-2/

http://www.thechristianmanifesto.com/index.php/2008/12/19/an-interview-with-sue-dent-author-of-forever-richard-part-2-of-2/

Before this blog was moved, pulled from the original site because the interviewer went to help with another blog, or so I was told, it was getting a LOT of attention. I was so very encouraged. I've yet to figure out why the interview was "dumped" like this. Sorry. But that's just my impression. You have to pan for gold to find it now. The back links on the moved interviews don't even work.

Guess that's what I get for pegging Thomas Nelson as a fee paying CBA affiliated publisher. Though it seems like they'd be proud of this since they pay to belong and are CBA's top publisher. Or maybe it didn't bother them at all. :)

Windy Ridge Books reviews Never Ceese!

Thanks to my Orthodox Priest friend Fr. Obregon, acquaintance of Orthodox deacon Fr. Michael Hyatt (No correlation to this story really, I just like typing the title Orthodox deacon Fr. Michael Hyatt. ;) a blogger friend of Fr. Obregon listed Never Ceese in their top three Friday finds on their blog. Afterwards, they ordered the e-book and now we have this:

Windy Ridge Books e-book review of Never Ceese.

I absolutely love the way they were able to pin the market even though the original category of YA horror got misconstrued along the way making one wonder why is a publisher asked to place a genre or category when anyone can change it at will. But do go take a peek when you get a chance. And no, Never Ceese is still not published by a CBA or ECPA affiliated publisher because they won't write stories about vampires or werewolves of lore no matter how much they appeal to their core market readers. And yes I have to say this otherwise I lose readers before they even pick up the book. Most everyone understands the work affiliated publishers put out rarely if ever hit the mark of appealing to the general market reader. ;)

Hey! I can always work a rant in. No rant here though, just an honest review from a new fan. Thank you so much Windy Ridge Books.

Little known facts about the Christian publishing industry.

These are things I've learned along my journey. Since my blog seems to be visited mainly by aspiring authors and Christian ones at that, I thought I'd share in hopes of being helpful. In other words, if you want to hear about my books, don't bore yourself reading this. ;)

1. The larger Christian bookstores used to be the Baptist Bookstores and only carry fiction produced by fee paying CBA and ECPA affiliated publishers. They will occasionally allow non-affiliated published authors in when that author has made a monetary impact in the general Christian market. Very few books have achieved this status. C. S. Lewis is one and William P. Young is another. CBA was created in 1950 to serve a very conservative evangelical market excluding all other religious preferences and has only lately started looking at opening their doors to let affiliated authors write about other religions, usually in light of being a conservative evangelical though, for example Amish fiction written from a conservative evangelical world view or vampire fiction which isn't that at all since neither CBA or ECPA (a group of CBA affiliated publishers formed in the 70's) believe their core market readers want to read about vampires of lore or anything "demonic."

2. These larger Christian bookstores do not distinguish their market from the the general Christian market which is confusing or rather misleading IMO.

Click here to see who they view their market as:
http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art6-xianfiction.html There's a more understandable definition at cba.org.

3. Ingram purchased CBA's distributor Spring Arbor from them yet having your work accepted by Spring Arbor doesn't get you into larger Christian bookstores. However it did make it possible for CBA and ECPA affiliated publishers to flood general market bookstores with their highly targeted fiction. The merge upset many CBA and ECPA publishers because, according to blogs, they didn't feel Ingram understood their very targeted market. Many affiliated publishers threatened and did drop Spring Arbor as their distributor but seeing how things didn't really change all that much, they eventually came back, realizing that even if Spring Arbor was approving non-affiliated Christian work it didn't affect them. Larger Christian bookstore, both on-line and otherwise, still exclude and only place affiliated work.

4. Any blog tour, blogs, award etc . . . representing "the best in Christian Fiction" is generally only indicative of the best in CBA/ECPA Christian fiction.

6. General market publishing houses are just fine publishing stories written by authors who are Christians and do it all day long. However there seem to be many authors who write too "churchy" for a general market publisher and too "edgy" for CBA/ECPA publishers to touch.

7. Many affiliated published authors don't seem to think their publishers' affiliation has any bearing on them as an author. Sue Dent contends guilty by affiliation. Deal with it.

8. There are quite a few affiliated houses that do not advertise they are that. Here are a few major CBA or ECPA affiliated houses some operating as imprints of larger general market houses: Thomas Nelson, Waterbrook/Multnomah, Harvest House, Bethany House, Steeple Hill, Zondervan. For a more comprehensive list you can go to cba.org

I may add more as I experience them. ;)

Never Ceese makes the top three!

I was directed toward this blog this morning (Fr. Obregon dropped a link in my inbox) and couldn't have been happier! Oh . . . the link. ;)

Here ya go!

If you're a fan of mine, do go help promote! If you're not a fan yet, go check out the link. If you're Father Obregon, thanks again! You so rock!

Breaking news!

Here's my latest press release for those interested. Never Ceese the paperback is now available on Kindle and through all of Lightning Sources E-book distributors for $5.00 and $4.99 respectively. You may click here to read more!

The best part of waking up! ;)

Yes the best part of waking up is, at the very least, coffee in your cup and finding a google alert like this one.:




Love you, Sarah. And look at fellow author Frank Creed grabbing that spotlight! You go Frank!!!

From Amish to vampires, Christian fiction expands

From Amish to vampires, Christian fiction expands

I found an news article labeled as such floating around the Internet (google it if you want to read it yourself) and thought I'd chime in since the actual wording makes it seem as though nothing like this has been done with Christian fiction before. I suppose the first thing to note here is that the label Christian fiction, in this instance, is referring to work produced by CBA affiliated Christian publishers not general market work. It's meant for a very narrowly targeted market of Christians and the writing conventions are tailored so that no writing offends their conservative evangelical audience.

I've not read the Amish fiction affiliated publishers such as Steeple Hill put out but one reviewers response pretty much nailed the genre. When offered a chance at a free book they wrote that they did like the work of this particular author but they preferred to read Amish Fiction about the Amish. Meaning that CBA affiliated publishers' Amish fiction is Amish from a conservative Evangelicals world view. Certainly makes sense since that's who their audience is.

As far a vampires goes, also from a conservative Evangelicals world view. The book being talked about on this news release is from Zondervan, a CBA(ECPA) affiliated imprint of Random House. I contacted Zondervan after an affiliated author told me I should, (when my book was appealing to readers who favored CBA work.) I was told that no affiliated publisher would ever allow their authors to write about vampires much less call them that. As I understand it, this affiliated version from Zondervan isn't even allowed to have fangs.

CBA affiliated Thomas Nelson pretty much held true to what the Zondervan editor told me and wouldn't take my work which was later deemed socially acceptable for distribution to the Christian Market. Interestingly, not long after Thomas Nelson decided not to humor me, they released two books that both authors claimed were about vampires.

The author of this Christian vampire book from Zondervan is a fan of mine (I think.) She did e-mail me once because she was excited that Zondervan was going to allow her to write about vampires. I had to say I was a bit frustrated by this until I realized they didn't let her do this at all. They're sticking to their guns. They don't want to distance the reader's that have made them what they are.

As far as affiliated publishers being allowed to write more "general market" like material--well, if they knew how to and succeeded they wouldn't be a niche market anymore would they. The Christian Booksellers Association was set up in 1950 by a group of Christian Bookstores, then called the Baptist Bookstore to provide very different and very targeted fiction to their visitors. It grew into a huge market and they're not about to offend that market.

Not anytime soon anyway.

Do keep in mind, this kind of confusion over what is Christian and what isn't in the publishing world, at least here in the US, is further complicated by one group taking the all encompassing label Christian and applying it to the very targeted work they put out. I suppose that's two groups if you consider that the ECPA is a group of CBA affiliated publishers whose restrictions are even more strict if you can believe that!

*CBA - Christian Booksellers Association

*ECPA - Evangelical Christian Publishers Association

Eric Wilson's review of Never Ceese

This review was one of the first real signs that I'd tapped into a market I didn't even know existed. Eric Wilson writes for CBA affiliated Thomas Nelson. When he refers to Christian fiction he's referring to the work put out by CBA affiliated publishers. Other than that, there are no boundaries to be pushed. Christians have been writing for the general market forever and appealing to other Christians. And learning that CBA targets a narrow market of Christians and restricts normal writing conventions to protect that market, I'd hardly call myself circling the camp. LOL More like running from it as fast as I can (I don't write like that.) Overall however, the review shows that a Christian writing for the general market can actually appeal to this audience . . . even when said author didn't know this audience existed. :)

Review of Never Ceese - Paperback
ISBN: 9780976994701
Eric Wilson
Author of Fireproof

Sue Dent has done the unthinkable. She's pushed the boundaries of Christian fiction, circling the camp with a small publisher, howling for someone to take notice. And it's working.

"Never Ceese" is a blend of traditional vampire themes and modern smart-mouthed characters. Ceese is a werewolf on her way to a British castle, where she will rendezvous with Richard the vampire. Ceese is in a constant struggle with "the wolf" inside, while Richard is trying to maintain a modicum of control over his fang-toothed desires. This unlikely pair, united by an old woman named Penny, discover they have mutual childhood links. As they travel to meet a young college-age researcher, their pasts come to light. Romance flits about in unexpected places. And a self-seeking professor angles to take their immortality for himself.

The standbys are in play--garlic, crucifixes, wolfsbane, etc--but Dent adds a few of her own elements to this classic battle between the old ways and new. There are few surprises, but the story moves at a quick pace, leavened with humorous dialogue and clever insights. Dent's characters struggle with their cursed sinful natures, seeking release--if such a thing is possible.

In the end, all is resolved--if not a bit suddenly on some levels--and possibilities are left open for the sequel, "Forever Richard." I guess I know what book to add to my Christmas list. With Dent circling the camp, someone's bound to wake up to this genre's possibilities.