The new issue of Latest In Spec just came out. As always there’s a listing of new releases, author appearances, interviews, book reviews, and much more. It’s a great resource for anyone who wants to stay current with the latest in Christian Speculative fiction.

The categories include Contests. On her new Dragon Bloggin’ blog, author Donita Paul is holding weekly contests as a build up to the upcoming West Coast Motiv8 Fantasy Writers Tour. Lots of fun.

Donita isn’t alone when it comes to running contests to stir up interest in the tour. Bryan Davis, author of the Dragons in Our Midst, The Oracles of Fire, and the Echoes from the Reflection’s Edge series also has a contest.

On a new subject, did you know that Stephen R. Donaldson is writing a third Thomas Covenant trilogy? The first, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, published in the 1970’s, created a phenomena akin to the Harry Potter craze, but these were adults waiting and waiting for the new release, then rushing to the bookstore at the earliest possible moment.

Anyway, the first book of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Runes of the Earth, came out in 2004. Book two, Fatal Revenant released last year. So why aren’t fantasy fans talking about these books?

Speaking of recent releases, Warner Press has published a middle grade fantasy—Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow, first in The Codebearers Series, by Christopher and Allan Miller (brothers, but no relation to me, at least that I know of!) The art work looks wonderful, as you can see if you visit their site, and the story sounds just like my kind of fantasy, only for kiddos.

And now, the truly amazing thing. You can read the book online, for free.

I’m not sure what I think about this marketing strategy. I will say, from what I’ve seen of the art work, this is a book you’ll want to own if the story lives up to the promise. I’ll let you decide that one.