Monday, July 26, 2010


Tales of Starlight
by Bryan Davis
For those of you who enjoyed Bryan Davis' recently featured book, Starlighter, he now offers an adult track set in the same worlds. Masters and Slayers follow the story of Jason's older brother, Adrian.

To: Learn more: http://dragonsinourmidst.blogspot.com/2010/07/masters-and-slayers-pre-order.html

Masters and Slayers is available for pre-order from Amazon, with an autographed copy straight from the author for only a couple of dollars more.
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Wednesday, July 21, 2010





STARLIGHTER
Book 1 in the new Dragons of Starlight series
from
BRYAN DAVIS


Blog Tour - Day 3


END OF THE TOUR BUT NOT END OF THE STORY
(click image for Amazon link or click link below)

Starlighter - available from:



In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour,
I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan Press.


Today is the third and final day for the July CSFF tour of Bryan Davis' Starlighter. Starlighter is the first in a planned four book series. Mr. Davis mentioned on his web site that the story and characters introduced in Starlighter will bring to light new mysteries and new questions in later Dragons of Starlight books.
One of the things I liked about the characters in Starlighter is the way the two protagonists act as role models. Teens today face lots of stress and the temptation to take the expedient path to their desires. In Starlighter Koren, tries to do what is right and remain loyal to her friends and her promises. A one word description that comes to mind for Koren is Integrity. On Major Four, Jason tries to help others when the need arises and follow the code of conduct he learned from his older brother. Jason is willing to step out and take chances, yet he follows the Knight's code of chivalry when it comes to his treatment of ladies; so chivalry is a good one word description for him.
Jason and Koren must strike out on their own on their respective worlds and leave what passes for comfortable surroundings to discover the truth. A single truth connects the two worlds. The truth of a portal that was used to force humans of Major Four as slaves on Dracon. As
mentioned on the first tour day, the portal has become little more than a myth used by of the leaders of both worlds as a way to control the general population. Control what people learn and believe, and you control those same people.
But, truth has a way of winning over deceit and lies. Somtimes the truth sounds quesionable, or at least the source. This was the case with Tibalt, called Tibber the Fibber. In order to survive, Tibalt acted half-crazed around the Govenor and the jailers while captive in the dungeon. Jason finds that his friend Elyssa wasn't killed by a mountain bear, but held captive to help Govenro prescott locate the portal. On Major Four, the governing body has outlawed all portal stories and jailed those who would spread the truth. Dacon took the opposite tack by relageting
the portal stories to the status of children's tales.

It seemed one principle of Starlighter was to that we should uphold the truth; watching what we believe or follow lest half-tuths or outright lies lead us astray from what is true. There are many deceivers today who, like the black egg, talk a good talk but whose only concern is for their own gain.

Starlighter is a good tween and teen story with likeable characters and a bit of action mixed in to keep things moving along between the two story lines. I'm looking forward to the next Starlight book from Mr. Davis to see where the story will take readers.

*Participants’ links
Brandon Barr
Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
R. L. Copple
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Nikole Hahn
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Jane Maritz
Rebecca LuElla Miller
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
SarahFlan
Chawna Schroeder
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson
KM Wilsher
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Tuesday, July 20, 2010



STARLIGHTER
Book 1 in the new Dragons of Starlight series
from
BRYAN DAVIS
Blog Tour - Day 2


Interview withe the Author
(click image for Amazon link or click link below)

Starlighter - available from:
In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour,
I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan Press.


Mr. Daivs kindly took time from his busy writing and speaking schedule to answer a few questions on Starlighter and writing for the CSFF Blog Tour:

Where did you get the idea for your latest dragon book, Starlighter?

Zondervan wanted me to write a book with dragons for them, so I asked my kids for an idea. My daughter Amanda came up with the idea, I presented it to Zondervan, and they loved it. It’s as simple as that. I embellished the seed of the idea greatly, so I’m not sure if my daughter would recognize it at this point, but it definitely came from her.

Did you have any particular Bible verses in mind as you began writing Starlighter?

Yes, since this story is about rescuing slaves from bondage, two passages are often in my mind:

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:34-36)

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

What would you say is the theme for Starlighter, and for the series?

For the series, the theme gaining freedom from spiritual slavery by faith. For Starlighter, theme is willingness to sacrifice for those less fortunate than yourself.

Was Starlighter originally planned as two worlds; a world where dragons keep humans slave versus a world where humans keep other humans slave?

It was originally planned as two worlds, but I didn’t include the idea of humans enslaving humans until the story developed. The slavery in the dragon world is overt and cruel, while the slavery in the human world is somewhat subtler, but it was interesting to contrast the two in the storytelling.

For those aspiring writers, how long did it take you to create Starlighter’s first draft?

I wrote the first draft of Starlighter in about three months and took another month to polish it before sending it to the publisher.

Did you begin your first draft with a well-developed outline, or find thatthe story flowed from your imagination as you discovered more about thecharacters and setting while writing?

I don't outline at all. I have a seed of an idea, and I sit down and writeabout the main character's normal way of life. Then, once I know thecharacter well enough, I create a crisis that sends him into the adventure.I am what some call a seat-of-the-pants writer, and I discover the story asI write it.
How long after finishing your draft did you have to wait until Starlighter hit the shelves?

It takes about a year for Zondervan to process a finished manuscript and get in to the bookstores. Not all publishers take that long.
Thanks again to Mr. Davis for the interview and insights on writing.


Tomorrow: Some final thoughts on Starlighter ofr Day 3 of the blog tour.


*Participants’ links
Brandon Barr
Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
R. L. Copple
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Nikole Hahn
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Jane Maritz
Rebecca LuElla Miller
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
SarahFlan
Chawna Schroeder
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson
KM Wilsher

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Monday, July 19, 2010





STARLIGHTER
Book 1 in the new Dragons of Starlight series
from
BRYAN DAVIS


Blog Tour - Day 1

A TALE OF TWO WORLDS
(click image for Amazon link or click link below)

Starlighter - available from:




In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour,
I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan Press.


I was excited to hear that our July CSFF tour book would be Starlighter by YA author, Bryan Davis. We have been fortunate to host Mr. Davis at area schools where he spoke to students about books and writing. During his most recent visit, he mentioned an upcoming series from Zondervan that dealt with a human slave living on a planet run by dragons. After enjoying his two previous dragon series, Dragons in Our Midst and Oracles of Fire, I wondered whether the author might create another modern day adventure, or begin afresh in a new world.


The Starlighter story occurs in two locations; the human-run world of Major Four and the dragon-controlled world of Dracon, or Starlight. One of the things that struck me was the similarities between the worlds and he two main characters. Koren, the female lead, works as a slave for the stargazing dragon, Arxad. Jason, the woodcutter's son, serves as Lord Prescott's bodyguard. Both Koren and Jason have some small semblance of freedom, yet both are frequently reminded of their stations in life.

Prescott and Magnar both want to keep the location of the portal between worlds a secret to protect the status quo, and ultimately benefit themselves at the expense of others. Magnar holds the humans captive as her tries to unlock the inter-world portal and bring through more slaves. Prescott hopes to use captives in the lower dungeon to find the path to the portal and steal the expected dragon treasure. Both leaders know the other world stories are true. Magnor has convinced the humans the stories are mere fables to amuse children. Prescott has tried to keep the portal secret by outlawing the stories, and punish those who pass on these untruths.

I'm not sure if it was intended, but it struck me that these same doubts of faith are practiced in our own world. Those the world call wise, ridicule Bible teachings and call Bible tales fables, or stories fit only for children. Like Magnar and Prescott, I wonder if it is less a question of belief in the teachings of old regarding the wise of the world, so much as it is a fear of loss of power and control.
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Sunday, July 18, 2010


STARLIGHTER
Book 1 in the new Dragons of Starlight series
from BRYAN DAVIS
Pre-Blog Tour

(click image for Amazon link or click link below)

Starlighter - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310718368/
http://www.christianbook.com/1-starlighter-bryan-davis/9780310718369/pd/718369?item_code=WW&netp_id=683787&event=ESRCN&view=details

Author blog - http://dragonsinourmidst.blogspot.com/
Author Web site - http://www.dragonsinourmidst.com/



In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour,
I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan Press.


The CSFF Starlighter blog tour begins officially on July 19th and runs through July 21st. This begins a brand-new dragons series by YA fantasy author, Bryan Davis.
Below are some comparison prices for Starlighter at sites I've purchased from in the past:
$10.00 Author Site (Autogrpahed copies)
http://www.daviscrossing.com/starlighter.htm
$5.00 Author Post-Tour Special (while supplies last) http://www.daviscrossing.com/starlightersale.htm
Tomorrow: A TALE OF TWO WORLDS
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Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Momentum Writer
by Black Obelisk Software

According to the program web site, Momentum Writer is designed to keep you moving forward with your writing. It's built to overcome that habit I admit that I'm guilty of, constant editing and re-writing. NaNoWriMo
is a great way to keep on plugging ahead. Constant interruptions by your internal editor are a sure way to cripple or maim your inner muse as you're typing.

Momentum Writer forces you to move forward in with your story. It also saves you from over typing your previous work. The program is only 700K, and can run on your computer or from a flash drive. That's a handy feature when you use multiple computers but still want to get in some typing. Work is automatically saved, and you start back when you last finished.

The only cost for all these fine features is a small amount of your time to download and install the program.
In other words, Momentum Writer is free! You can't beat the price, and Momentum Writer just may help you finish that novel you've always wanted to write.

http://www.blackobelisksoftware.com/momentumwriter/index.html
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