The Restorer, by Sharon Hinck's
This is a tale of both high fantasy and contemporary mom fiction. Quite an intriguing combination. An average, everyday mom living in a fast-paced world of being a mother and wife, is jolted into a fantasy world where she finds herself embroiled in a battle of good vs. evil.
The reviews I've read on
The Restorer have almost exclusively ranged in the "positive" to "wildly ecstatic" categories.
There is one thing I hope that comes out of all of this. And that is more Fantasy published by Christian publishers!
As an author, I realize the market for Christian fantasy fiction (as far as Christian publishing houses are concerned) is not that great.
The Restorer bridges a gap that is limiting many Christian speculative fiction novels from seeing the light of day . . . and that gap is . . . bringing women into the speculative fiction world.
My co-author and I discovered this gap while trying to publish are science fiction novel,
When the Sky Fell. We were told there just wasn't a market for speculative fiction in Christian publishing. We therefore sold it to a secular publishing house.
As one peruses the isles of his or her local Christian bookstore, they'll find an enormous amount of shelf space devoted to contemporary/historical/romantic Christian fiction, but as to futuristic/speculative/fantasy . . . well, A single row on a shelf if you're lucky.
One obvious thing Mike and I concluded from all of this (and we were also told this by all the Christian publishers) was that Women constitute the bulk of the Christian fiction readership. So what did Mike and I do for our next writing project? We decided to write something that we could sell in the Christian market. Women lead, contemporary fiction, romance, etc. It's a great story and we love it! And we'll likely write more of this kind. But in the end, our hearts are still owned by the future, and by fantastical worlds inhabited by creatures that live only in the imaginations of other like-minded brothers and sisters.
Essentially, we're trying to do the same thing Sharon Hinck's has done. Sharon has established herself by writing in the "normal" categories of Christian fiction (contemporary fiction), and this has eased the concerns of her publishers, who, obviously, decided to give Fantasy fiction a try, in her case.
Great job Sharon, and good luck. Thanks for helping pave the way.
Please check out these other CSFF Blog Tour member sites for more on
The RestorerTrish AndersonBrandon BarrJim BlackJustin BoyerGrace BridgesAmy BrowningJackie CastleValerie ComerKarri ComptonFrank CreedLisa CromwellCSFF Blog TourGene CurtisD. G. D. DavidsonChris DeanneJeff DraperApril ErwinBeth GoddardMarcus GoodyearAndrea GrahamRussell GriffithJill HartKatie HartSherrie HibbsHollyHeather R. HuntBecca JohnsonJason JoynerKaitKarenDawn KingTina KulesaLost Genre GuildRachel MarksRebecca LuElla MillerEve NielsenJohn W. OtteJohn OttingerRachelleCheryl RusselHanna SandvigChawna SchroederMirtika SchultzSteve TrowerSpeculative FaithJason WaguespacDaniel I. Weaver
