Author Interview

Meet Robin Lee Hatcher

Robin Lee Hatcher pursued her vocation as a novelist after many years of literally reading everything she could put her hands on. During her career she has won many outstanding awards: the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction, the RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance, two...

Read more

Spine Chiller Thrillers

The Literary Boogeyman

I’m a literary boogeyman. I admit it. Proud of it, in fact.

Scaring the reader is tantamount to success for a suspense novelist. Without fear there is no adrenalin and without adrenalin there are no sweaty palms, no nervous tension, and no pounding hearts. It’s like riding the kiddie-coaster. A couple of times ’round the same old bend and it’s over. What’s the point in that?

Read more

Genre Happenings

Biblical Fiction

In recent years, Biblical fiction has topped international best-seller lists. Works such as The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, Zipporah by Marek Halter, and Queenmaker by India Edghill have delighted readers and garnered praise from almost every corner of the fiction world, secular and religious alike. Such publicity, and its subsequent sales, would certainly prompt curious readers to pick up a Bible for some serious study, right? Well . . . maybe. Or maybe not. Before we focus on biblical fiction’s hoped-for results with readers, let’s start with the genre’s basic...

Read more

Multicultural Fiction

Victoria Christopher Murray and that “Ooh-Wee” Factor

The other night I opened an advanced reader copy of Victoria Christopher Murray’s new novel, Lady Jasmine. I read the two page prologue and literally screamed, “Ooh-wee, this is going to be good!” As I closed the novel, twenty-four hours later (that’s record time for me with the kids and all), I opened my blog to begin writing the review. The first line is “Lady Jasmine is without a doubt the best...

Read more

Reviewers Corner

This month's featured reviewer:

Cara Putnam

Like many of you, I, Cara Putnam, love to read! As a teen, I hounded the small Christian bookstore in town until the owner would see me walk in and hand me the latest stack of catalogs. “Here, you can see for yourself when the next books are releasing.” Since those days, I have also freely loaned my books to others and told people about books or authors they should try. My husband would tell you it’s because I’ve never had an opinion I didn’t love to share.

Read more

Devotional

EMOTIONALLY SPEAKING . . .

Forget the dyed eggs, the bunnies, and the jelly beans that abound at Easter. It’s mere frosting on the carrot cake. Easter isn’t sweets. Easter is bittersweet. Easter is emotion.

No other time of year elicits such a smorgasbord of feelings. While Christmas calls up happiness; Thanksgiving, gratitude; and the Fourth of July, patriotism; Easter assails us with a barrage of sorrow, compassion, anger, and joy. These emotions roil and collide as we remember Christ’s torment and revel in His victory over death.

Read more