One look at my thumbnail picture and it’s pretty obvious that I am a big fan of tattoos. I have almost one hundred hours and a couple thousand dollars under my skin. The majority of my work was done while I was living in China, where it is much less expensive than in the USA (and this way, I know my Chinese language tattoos are correct) though I had several done stateside as well. Despite my copious amount of ink, I have never had any trouble finding a white-collar job, and in fact, I have never once had anyone say anything negative about my tattoos to me directly.

Tattoos are a touchy subject for many people and cultures and this is why I try to be sensitive to those around me. Some people with lots of ink adopt an aggressive, standoff-ish attitude, flaunting their tattoos and enjoying the discomfort they cause. This can cause problems in Christian circles. Leviticus 19:28 tells the Hebrews to not cut their bodies for the dead or to receive tattoos, since this was a common practice among pagan cultures. One oft-quoted anti-tattoo verse is 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” The way I see it, the responses to these verses are quite simple: the passage in Leviticus was directed at the Hebrews and does not apply to Gentiles or those under the New Covenant. The verse before says, “Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or trim the edges of your beard.” Can’t say I know any Christians upholding that precept of the Law. As far as our bodies being “temples,” I do not feel that getting tattoos desecrates or defaces the gift that God has given me. I do not have horrific imagery or profanity permanently marked under my skin; I have Bible verses and Bible-inspired symbols, the names of my wife and kids, personal mantras, and benign geometric designs. If anything, I see them as adornments to the temple. In the end, it’s a matter of preference and of conscience.

So let’s get to the reason why I brought up the subject of tattoos: ink in entertainment. I cannot immediately recall Christian stories where tattoos were a significant element, and this is perhaps due to the church’s cautious attitude about tattoos. I cannot say for sure, but I believe that I am one of the most, if not the most, tattooed Christian author writing today. I could be wrong, and since

Image copyright Lionsgate Films

I have not read every Christian book on the shelves, I am sure to be missing some examples. Where I do see tattoos make frequent appearances are in fantasy, sci-fi, YA, and *shudder* erotica.

The tattooed bad boy has long been an item of female fascination, and women in general are more interested in adornments and decoration, so naturally they often appear in YA and erotica, since women are the primary market for these genres. Go to Goodreads and search for “tattoos” in their book lists and you’ll see what I mean. I never read the books but the movie adaptation of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones featured numerous (and poorly-drawn) tattoos. Jacob in the Twilight series showed his wild side when he got a tattoo. The Divergent books and movies have tattooed characters. The list goes on.

Tattoos appear with less frequency in fantasy and science fiction but you can find them if you look. Most military sci-fi books or movies (or any military books or movies for that matter) will have tattoos. The shaved-headed she-warrior Dania in Robert Mullin’s Bid the Gods Arise is heavily inked. Harry Potter himself has a forehead tattoo though it wasn’t done on purpose. More often than not, it’s the bad guys that have tattoos (along with goatees *sigh*) but as society increasingly accepts tattoos, they move more into the realm of truth and justice.

So why this fascination with tattoos? From my personal experience, I can testify that tattoos are awesome. They hurt like the dickens but they are totally worth it, as long as you are prepared for the lifelong commitment. Tattoos have historically been associated with strength, aggression, power, status, rebellion, and tribal identity. They have traditionally been a male-dominated pursuit but women have been getting in on the action more and more, and in books as well, especially if the writer wants their character to appear tough or edgy. Beautiful, feminine tattoos are also becoming the norm.

Image copyright Davis Films

As our society’s interest in tattoos becomes more widespread and mainstream (they’re not just for sailors, convicts, or gangbangers anymore), we can expect that they will pop up with greater regularity in our entertainment. I am glad that being tattooed doesn’t carry the stigma that it used to, but I am also aware of the seriousness of the decision to get inked and the statements they can make to the world. I recently re-watched one of my favorite Gothic action fantasy movies, Solomon Kane. He is a tortured man running from the devil and his wicked past, and he covers himself in sacred tattoos to ward off evil. Unlike thoughts or feelings, tattoos cannot change or be concealed if the skin is exposed.

I explored the consequences of tattoos in a book called Indelible. The story centers around a modern-day fantasy weapons designer who wants to attract more attention to himself and his work, so he gets a facial tattoo. It changes his life for better and for worse, and the truth is that tattoos can be a very serious matter. If you are a writer and you are wanting to give your character tattoos, make it as unique and personal as you can, since that is how tattooing is usually approached in real life. And if you are a reader, consider how much attention the author paid to their characters’ tattoos. Did they throw them in there just to make their character cool? Are they generic symbols that have some sort of purpose but again are really just added for the cool factor? Or are they as unique as the character themselves with meaning or stories behind them? The age-old advice holds true in the real world and in fictional ones: Think before you ink.

Death.

A word that stabs the heart with fear, lurks in the shadows of the unknown, and causes people to shy away from discussing because it’s too final and frightening.

In books and movies, when characters we love are in danger, we fear for their lives. Why? Because we don’t want them to be snatched out of the story, never to return. We won’t want to mourn their loss, never again experiencing the qualities that drew us to them.

Realistically, for many main characters, death is but a distant threat, a line of black clouds barely glimpsed on the horizon. After all, we needn’t fear their final demise when the movie has just begun or we’re only partway through the book.

Our innate sense of storytelling reminds us that if the story is about a particular character, he or she can’t die until near the end, otherwise what’s the point of the story continuing? The longer a series goes, the more threatening is the possibility of death, but deep down we expect the majority of the main players to hang around for most of the action.

Still, we don’t want our favorites to die. Once they’re gone, they won’t be back. We, as mortal humans, have no control over the domain of death. Or do we?

We’ve always been fascinated with the idea of death, and not always in a morbid sense. It’s a mystery, and we want to peer behind the veil to see what secrets it holds. It’s no surprise, then, that this desire finds a home in fiction. In a profession founded on what-ifs, we wonder, “What if we could play God and conquer death?”

Image from agentsofshield.wikia.com

In recent years, this question has come into the spotlight thanks mainly to a pair of entertainment giants.

After Phil Coulson’s death in The Avengers, Marvel gave us T.A.H.I.T.I., that magical place where death could be beaten by knowledge, skill, and technology.

With its various television and box office productions, DC seems overly fond of revisiting this attempt to play God. A few examples:

1. The TV show Arrow makes you wonder if the screenwriters are so in love with the characters that after killing them, they need to find a way to bring them back to life.
2. In the current season of Gotham, we’ve been introduced to a strange doctor with tinted eyeglasses and a penchant for dabbling in resurrection techniques. The result? A story where even those who’ve died can’t be completely forgotten. Who knows, maybe they’ll return from the grave.

There are two problems with these scenarios. First, the obvious flaw that we, despite the most advanced technology and science, can’t play God. In the Wheel of Time series, even the world’s most powerful channeler couldn’t use magic to overcome the finality of death.

My goal isn’t to wade into a philosophical or religious study of death and what our attempts to play God mean. Rather, I want to look at it from a storytelling standpoint, which brings us to the second problem. Our fascination with controlling death is clear, but what are the repercussions of that in terms of the story?

3 Storytelling Drawbacks When Man Plays God

1. It removes the threat. If characters can be brought back to life, why worry when someone we care about is endangered? Gone is the tension of battles, the anxiety when the villain has the hero in his clutches or a blade to the throat of the romantic interest. The story takes on a bland hue, robbed of the intricacy provided by a character’s death.

2. It reduces the consequences. Many stories use sacrifice as a central theme. Often, characters don’t literally sacrifice their lives, but some do. Removing the finality of death removes the potency of that act. If characters keep returning *cough* DC *cough*, we become jaded with death scenes because we have the nagging question, “Will this character come back somehow?”

Recently, my family watched an episode of a TV show and one of the characters died. Someone commented, “I’m not buying it.” Therein lies the problem. It’s happened so many times now, we’ve become skeptical that a character’s death actually impacts the story in a meaningful way, other than setting them up for a suspected-and-therefore-not-surprising return.

3. It minimizes death. This ties to the problem above. For viewers, it makes death seem less terrible than it is, a thing to be manipulated at the will of Hollywood directors instead of what it is—a grim reality of life.

Don’t get me wrong. There are examples of this back-from-the-dead trend that work, such as Gandalf—though admittedly his return was the result of divine orchestration. But with how popular this approach has become, such instances are quickly turning cliché.

Stories should always strive to be unique and different. This flood of resurrected characters has become too predictable. And anyway, we all know that when man plays God it never ends well.

What do you think of the impact this trend has on storytelling?

In some ways, Tosca Lee needs no introduction. She burst onto the writing scene in 2007 with Demon: A Memoir, a C.S. Lewis-ish tale about a writer named Clay who encounters a demon who has chosen him to write his life story.

Since then she’s written such Biblical fiction titles as Havah, Iscariot, and The Legend Of Sheba. She also teamed up with novelist Ted Dekker to write the Books Of Mortals series, consisting of Forbidden, Mortal, and Sovereign. In fact, in 2013 readers chose Mortal as one of the finalist entries in the Clive Staples Award.

Ms. Lee also served as the keynote speaker at Realm Makers in 2014 and returned last year as part of the faculty. So she is well know among Realm Makers conferees. Then why an introduction? In part because her next novel is about to release.

The Progeny is like nothing else Ms. Lee has written. In part, here’s the description of the book on Amazon:

Emily Porter is the descendant of a serial killer. Now, she’s become the hunted.

She’s on a quest that will take her to the secret underground of Europe and the inner circles of three ancient orders—one determined to kill her, one devoted to keeping her alive, and one she must ultimately save.

Filled with adrenaline, romance, and reversals, The Progeny is the present-day saga of a 400-year-old war between the uncanny descendants of “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Bathory, the most prolific female serial killer of all time, and a secret society dedicated to erasing every one of her descendants. A story about the search for self amidst centuries-old intrigues and Europe’s underground scene…and one woman’s mission to survive.

Second, there are some things that the average reader or Realm Makers conferee might not know. For example, Tosca’s then-boyfriend asked her to marry him at her last book signing. Their wedding was this past January. Of equal importance to writing, apparently, Tosca is a foodie. She says she Tweets about food as much, no, more, than she does writing. She recently wrote a blog post about her favorite foods which include such things as

Movie buttered popcorn with evil fake buttery topping
Red Lobster cheese biscuits
Any biscuit, actually
Mashed potatoes
Ham gravy
Caviar with accouterments
Hot dogs with mustard
Greasy cheeseburgers

I admit, I was shocked that pizza didn’t make the list. Poor, Tosca. She doesn’t realize what she’s missing, I don’t think.

Another factoid that many might miss is that Ms. Lee was once upon a time an Overlord in an online gaming community. Though she no longer participates, the group holds a tournament named in honor of her character. (Those interested can look for the Talon of Redwing Tournament.)

Before she became a writer, Tosca gained a measure of fame as the winner of the Mrs. Nebraska beauty pageant. She went on to compete in the Mrs. America pageant and finished as first runner up. Her year serving as Mrs. Nebraska gave her numerous opportunities to advocate for such charities as girl scouts and breast cancer research as well as to launch a career in motivational speaking. Several years later she added model to her growing resume.

Other lesser know facts:

• As a child, Tosca was a serious pianist, practicing for an hour and a half every day
• She was also a classically trained ballerina and pursued a career in dance until injury brought an end to those aspirations.
• She loved reading from an early age
• Her favorite book of all time is The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• Tosca received her BA in English and International Relations from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts
• She also studied in Oxford
• For some time she served as a management consultant for The Gallup Organization

Most pertinent to writers who are considering attendance at Realm Makers, Tosca Lee continues to garner praise for her writing. The endorsers for The Progeny said such things as “Tosca Lee is a masterful storyteller”; “Lee is a phenomenal talent known for bringing history to the present, making it exciting and relevant while never forgetting that love is the ultimate motivator”; “Gifted storyteller Tosca Lee artfully weaves an intriguing centuries-old legend into an absorbing, fast-paced supernatural thriller”; “Tosca puts the thrill into thriller,” and much more.

In addition, in reference to her novel, Iscariot, Publishers Weekly called Tosca’s research and writing “impeccable and masterful.”

Clearly, those wishing to learn more about writing, specifically about the kind of speculative fiction Tosca Lee is known for, will have a great experience at Realm Makers 2016.

Ah, that was good. I just finished a cup of homemade coffee and an ebook.¹ I paid little for each of these. But the experience was a priceless bit of God-given joy to start off my day.

That’s what coffee and ebooks should be: companion joys. As I wrote last week, I disagree with indie marketing slogans or memes that pit one joy against another. Some memes say, “If you would spend $4 on a coffee, you can buy an e-book. Support authors!” It sounds like, “Be good to make Jesus happy.” Or, “Buy only free-range chicken.” Or, “There are starving children in Sokovia who would love to read independently published novels like you can.”

Brutal honesty.

Such do-your-duty slogans don’t work for me. Why? I’m selfish and a defensive customer. “Buy ebooks, not coffee” slogans especially don’t work because I like most coffees better than most ebooks. Also, shops like Starbucks have proven track records of investments.

Many readers and indie novelists agreed. So now I’ll ask: If we can’t just negatively market against negative marketing,² what positive novel marketing could work better?

I’d enjoy hearing your examples. Here, I can share how positive marketing works for me:

1. I chase happiness and joy.

I’ll spend the most time here because it is my most important reason.

Evangelical cover. Supra-evangelical truth.

Happiness, or joy,³ is the one goal every human on Earth is born to pursue.

Alas, we’re selfish and corrupted by sinful cravings. Those cravings twist our desire for joy.

But we keep chasing joy, even as we sinfully respond to our world or try to escape evils. Philosopher Blaise Pascal noted that even suicide is motivated by our happiness desire:

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

Biblical Christians know we can’t fulfill our happiness/joy desire with sin. We can’t fulfill it with, say, materialism or spiritualism. Instead, God is the source of all joy. If we want joy apart from Him, we want an impossible universe. We want an upside-down square circle.

God shares His joys in three gifts He gives human beings:

1. Himself (and the means to reconcile us with Himself through Jesus in the Gospel).
2. His physical creation, including good gifts like food and marriage.⁴
3. Things humans make out of creation—our culture that was God’s idea.⁵

God told humans to make culture. Our culture includes coffee, including franchise coffee shops and business and investment. And it includes stories, which includes indie novels.

So indie novels are God’s gift. They aren’t separate from His goodness, creativity, or Gospel.

Sure, people actually write the novels. They don’t write because God gave them specific guidance. Novelists are not inspired like the Bible’s authors were inspired. But even in a sinful age, in a sense, God does give us novels. And He gives us this gift for our enjoyment.

That is why I enjoy good novels. I don’t want good novels because I’m Supposed To, or to Support Authors. Yes, I may seek them because I’m “selfish”—that is, the sinful corruption of God-directed self-interest. But in Christ, I can also fight to be “self-interested” in the best way possible: By chasing joy/happiness in good novels, I can also chase the Joy-giver.

Marketing tips?

1. Promise me glimpses of happiness and joy that I’m chasing despite my selfishness.
2. If you are a Christian author, you need not use overt “evangelese” terms to do this.
3. Avoid vague/overused adjectives about how the novel will make me feel (“a thrilling story” or “a page-turner”). Even genre terms like “speculative” can seem more like the language of industry pitches and not broad reader appeals. Show not tell, and all that.
4. Tractor-beam me closer to your book’s specific heroes, plots, and worlds. Please use proper names and nouns with precise adjectives. For my part, I’d like to see 98 percent of this (even if it seems repetitious) and 2 percent or less “writer-speak.” This is not “marketing” proper, is it? You’re just sharing your story, so we can chase joy together.

2. I’m open to new experiences.

Sure, I can be self-defensive customer. When someone is promising to sell something that I know will profit themselves, up go my shields. But I also want to go on new and enthralling journeys into fantastical worlds with fantastical people I care about, so I can chase joy.

Marketing tips?

1. Give me free glimpses. No, I do not mean give away books.⁶ I mean, give glimpses. Why don’t I see more frequent excerpts from indie novelists?
2. Specifically, why not make your Facebook author page or Twitter account consist of 90 percent Best Novel Moments? Then follow with a short bookstore link. And that’s it.
3. Again, to me this doesn’t feel like Marketing. It feels like introductions. It feels like “networking” in the least formal and best possible sense. You’re “networking” in joy.
4. Surprise me. My theory: All those high-falutin’ Author Guide articles and seminars go all wrong about “how to make readers fall in love with your character.” Whether dark or light, hero or villain, people in novels only need do one thing to win: surprise me.

3. I also favor humility and trust.

In theory the main reason to “support” Christian fiction or indie novels is this: They offer a presumed Trust Advantage. In theory the argument goes: “Secular/traditionally published novels don’t reflect your beliefs/preferences. Here’s a better alternative.”

So goes the theory. In reality, Christian-published and indie novels must fight for my trust the same as any secular or traditionally published novel. Sometimes they must fight harder.

Marketing tips?

1. Positive marketing alone starts earning trust. This makes me think, “Here’s a person whose work I would enjoy, because I’m sure I would enjoy his or her positive company.”
2. Humbly decrease. For example, what if an author vanishes backstage and only shows his or her novel excerpts? This seems to say, “I must decrease, and my story increase. This is truly not about me, but about the greatest possible (Godly?) joy of readers.”
3. Show me things I’ll probably already like. Dozens of authors I follow already do this. They often share excellent nonfiction articles about biblical truth, reviews of fantastical stories, and geeky memes. They show they are not trying to hijack popular “fandom” or “geekdom” for marketing purposes. Instead they are fans themselves. They can’t help it.
4. Get lost—in delight. One great lie in evangelical-dom is that humility looks like the worst kind of introversion: shrinking about, head bowed, no fun at parties. It’s not true. True humility occurs almost “automatically” but with practice, when we lose ourselves.

   On the New Earth, no one will “act humble.” And as we chase eternal joy in Jesus Christ, humility won’t be a hard exercise. Instead humility will be as natural to us as breathing.

   Of course, here where the air is thin, we need “respirators”—specific lessons about a thing called Humility. But occasionally, even here, the air thickens. We can breathe for a few seconds. For me, I catch myself “breathing” better when I lose myself in delight.

Indie novelists, that’s why I need your help. I don’t need guilt-based appeals, wordcount updates, publishing industry jargon, or reminders about myself in any way. I need your help to take me away from all those things, even with small pleasures: new heroes, new stories, new worlds. Yes, you’re in the writing/marketing business. But those things, like joy itself, serve a far greater end. Instead, you’re in the business of leisure, of godly Sabbath rest, of hinting at eternity—hinting of happiness and joy that reflects our joy-giving God.

It can be hard to define what makes fiction Christian. So let’s define, instead, what doesn’t make fiction Christian. These are things that might come from a Christian worldview, or have Christian meaning … but not necessarily. Let’s begin with …

Christian symbols such as crosses or churches; warding off vampires with holy water or crucifixes; fighting demons with Catholic rites, Latin phrases, holy water, crucifixes, etc. Symbols can be divorced from their original meaning, and Christianity has, if I may put it this way, entered into the lore of vampires and demons. Modern writers who draw upon the lore of these mythical creatures may employ the Christian bits in it, but these bits do not always carry either Christian truth or a Christian spirit. Elements of Christianity may be cut off from the whole of Christianity, and then they are fractured and dead, like branches cut off from a vine. A crucifix or those impressive Latin phrases can even be used in a magical or superstitious way, spiritual power that comes from things rather than God.

To bring the issue into greater clarity, consider how superstition and pagan beliefs are entwined in the lore of many fantasy creatures, from elves to centaurs. Warding off an elf with iron doesn’t make a book superstitious, and warding off a vampire with a crucifix doesn’t make a book Christian.

The resurrection of a character, however heroic or powerful. I’ve heard of a lot of Christ-figures in famous fantasy, whether Gandalf or Harry Potter or Aslan. They usually aren’t; Aslan is the exception that proves the rule. A heroic death, followed by resurrection, holds scant parallel to Christ’s death and resurrection. In the first place, the evil Christ died to save us from was our own; this is rarely echoed even in fantasy’s heroic deaths. In the second, there is nothing extraordinary about resurrection in science fiction and especially in fantasy. Characters in fantasy novels are like witches in Narnia: You can always get them back.

“Clean” content. I am almost reluctant to offer this one, because I would hate to sound like one of those people who bash the very idea of clean content. I still offer it, because it’s true. Clean content is defined by what isn’t there. An absence is often a very good thing – I personally have had houseguests who made me feel this with conviction – but it is by definition negative. For a book or movie to be Christian, an actual presence is required, a positive thing.

Good values; or, basic human decency. This appears to be closely related to the last, but curiously enough, these two are often deployed by different crowds. It is applied to children’s movies and to adult-oriented Hollywood flicks alike. In the second scenario, the “good values” argument goes like this: The movie may be nakedly secular in its philosophy, with crowd-pleasing violence and routine abuse of God’s name, but it shows approval of courage or friendship, or disapproval of disloyalty or cruelty. And these are all, of course, good and true things. They are also such fundamental, and such common, decency that possession of them is moral sanity. They do not make a work Christian.

The common thread in all of this is that none of these things are, in themselves, bad; they’re just not enough. A Christian book or movie is not one that avoids enough bad content, or espouses the sort of virtues that even hypocrites and sociopaths pay lip service to. It’s not even one that possesses Christian forms or symbols. A Christian book or movie goes beyond all this to something hard to define because it is hard to quantify – a certain spirit, a certain meaning.

Image from marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com

Civil War was the best Marvel movie to date. It had everything—fast-paced action, epic fights, probing themes, developed characters with meaningful arcs, priceless humor, sweet tech. The list goes on.

There was so much at play in that movie, it’s hard to wrap your mind around it. The cure? A list of highlights.

Warning: major spoilers in the area. Please abstain if you haven’t seen the movie. Unless of course you don’t care. 😉

If you don’t know what happens decide to continue on, some of them won’t make any sense.

Here are twenty-six things we learned in Civil War.

1. Tom Holland is going to be the best Spiderman we’ve seen thus far.
2. Oftentimes, the right decision isn’t obvious. As much as we want to paint the world in black and white, life tends to exist in the gray areas.
3. Loyalty is a powerful motivator.
4. Revenge is also a powerful motivator.
5. A movie can combine weighty themes and grittiness with humor, without sounding cheesy.
6. There’s someone in the world who makes Black Widow look like an apprentice combatant.
7. Bucky’s metal arm is so cool.
8. Ant-Man is full of BIG surprises.
9. Tony has a conscience, even if it’s in the form of a tiny person short-circuiting his suit.
10. Cap has some sick biceps.
11. Tony may have a crush on Aunt May.
12. If the superhero gig doesn’t work out, Scarlet Witch could make a living creating wells.
13. Betrayal is a painful thing and can lead to irrational behavior.
14. Cap may be in love.
15. Despite all the good superheroes do in saving the world and protecting people against evil, innocent bystanders still get hurt.
16. Vision looks terrible in regular clothes.
17. A battle between two teams of superheroes is one of the most intense, exhilarating scenes you’ll see on the big screen.
18. Even the best of us, those who seem perfect, make mistakes.
19. Cap is a law-breaking rebel.
20. Black Panther owns a sweet hideout.
21. Friendship can be a tricky thing. It makes us blind to faults yet fiercely loyal.
22. Spiderman is attached to his homework.
23. A house divided against itself will fall.
24. Tony “Stank” is the best mispronunciation of any last name in the history of the world and is now officially a thing.
25. It’s better not to trust Vision with the preparation of meals.
26. Even when it’s not popular, even when the consequences are painful, you have to stand up for what you believe.

What were some of the highlights of Civil War to you?

Among the faculty at the 2016 Realm Makers Conference is the well-known author, Kathy Tyers. I say “well known,” but I suspect her name is more well known than she is. Kathy is one of the pioneers of Christian speculative fiction, and many know her science fiction. Or not. Her Realm Makers bio gives the basics:

Kathy Tyers sold her first novel, Firebird, to Bantam Spectra in 1986. Since its initial 1987 publication, it has been re-released by Bethany House Publishers and more recently by Marcher Lord Press, which published a three-in-one annotated version of Firebird, Fusion Fire, and Crown of Fire, finishing the Firebird series in 2011 and 2012 with Wind and Shadow and the messiah tale Daystar.

As you may expect, there’s more.

The science fiction series for which Kathy is most well known, has gone through several iterations. The first two books first appeared in the general market, but some years later Bethany House picked up a revised version, “rewritten to enhance their underlying spiritual themes.” The third of the series followed shortly after.

Some ten years later, the trilogy came into print again, re-released by Enclave Publishing (then Marcher Lord Press). Two new books, which finished the series, soon followed—Wind And Shadow in 2011 and Daystar the following year.

Earlier in her career, Kathy’s first publisher, the general market house Bantam Spectra (the science fiction division of Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House), invited her to become a Star Wars© writer. In that role she wrote The Truce At Bakura (which became a best-seller) and One Mind’s Eye. Here’s a more complete description of her writing with the Star Wars franchise:

In the early to mid 90’s, Kathy Tyers was one of the most prominent authors of the Bantam-era Star Wars Expanded Universe alongside Timothy Zahn & Kevin J. Anderson. Her first contribution to Star Wars lore was 1994’s The Truce at Bakura, taking place immediately after the events of Return of the Jedi. She would later go on to contribute several short stories to Kevin J. Anderson’s Tales From The… series, including “Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk” and “We Don’t Do Weddings: The Band’s Tale”, as well as the New Jedi Order installment Balance Point. (“Interview: : Kathy Tyers Talks ‘Balance Point’, ‘The Truce At Bakura’, & ‘Star Wars Legends’”)

For some years Kathy’s writing was on hiatus because of personal and family issues. She was widowed in 2004; went back to school at Regent College in Vancouver, BC, where she received two degrees in Christians Studies; worked with classical guitarist Christopher Parkening on his autobiography; and remarried in 2014.

She’s also taken up the mantel of writing instructor. Having been certified as a classroom teacher after her graduation from Montana State University, she was not unfamiliar with the ins and outs of imparting information in a formal setting. She was part of the faculty at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference in 2015, for instance, teaching a major morning track on “Writing Fantasy and Speculative Fiction.” Subjects she covered included The All-Important First Page of a Speculative Novel, Worldbuilding for the Subgenres, and Viewpoint: Alien and Human. Kathy also served as a mentor for the Christian Writers Guild.

In an interview with J. W. Wartick last year, Kathy answered a question about what science fiction influenced her. Possibly fans of the sci fi genre, writers in particular, will resonate with her answer:

The first SF novel I devoured was The Star Conquerors, an early space opera by Ben Bova. I was also a big fan of Zenna Henderson’s “People” novels. The original Star Wars movies swept me away, of course. I discovered Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series when the first novel came out, and I kept up as she released titles in the series. Whenever I’m called to teach the craft in a classroom, I draw on Orson Scott Card’s excellent book on writing SF and Fantasy.

Currently, in addition to her speaking, Kathy is a freelance editor and is working on two new projects, one a science fiction and one a contemporary fantasy.

Interestingly, Kathy was a musician before she was an author.

Music was my first language. I was trained as a flutist, I took up guitar as a teenager, and I added Irish harp in my twenties. I performed with a flute ensemble, and I sat in with the local symphony orchestra when a sub was needed. (Kathy Tyers: FAQ)

Another unexpected is that Kathy’s undergraduate degree was in microbiology. Thus her science fiction writing seems to be the perfect marriage of her artistic bent with her interest in and study of science.

My thinking is that Kathy Tyers alone would be worth the price of admission to the Realm Makers Conference. She certainly adds value!

Dragonfriend

by Marc Secchia

Introduction

Finalist – 2015 Parable Award
Gold Award winner – 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards

Stabbed. Burned by a dragon. Abandoned for the windrocs to pick over.

The traitor Ra’aba tried to silence Hualiama forever. But he reckoned without the strength of a dragonet’s paw, and the courage of a girl who refused to die.

Only an extraordinary friendship will save Hualiama’s beloved kingdom of Fra’anior and restore the King to the Onyx Throne. Flicker, the valiant dragonet. Hualiama, a foundling, adopted into the royal family. The power of a friendship which paid the ultimate price.

This is the tale of Hualiama Dragonfriend, and a love which became legend.

Excerpt

Twisting free FROM her manacles, Lia surged to her feet. She rapidly gathered a six-foot length of chain between her hands.

At her sudden movement, startled oaths burst from two young soldiers assigned to their cabin. Clad in the midnight-blue of Fra’anior’s Royal Guard, the soldiers watched over Lia and Fyria, her royal sister, as a Dragonship bore them into exile—likely, to a place of execution.

“What’re you doing?” squeaked Fyria.

“Escaping,” said Lia.

Eyes bulging, the soldiers whipped out their swords. One snarled, “Not by the fires of this caldera, you aren’t!”

“Here,” said the other, crooking his finger in a crude gesture. “Little girl want to play—urk!”

Lia lanshed out with the chain as he spoke. The metal links snaked around the man’s neck. She sprang sideways, up against the Dragonship’s cabin wall. Using her captive as a counterbalance, Lia stepped brieful along the lightweight wall to avoid the first soldier’s lunge, before dropping nimbly behind him. A swift kick of her slipper-clad foot propelled the man into the corner where her Royal Highness the Princess Eyria’aliola of Fra’anior—Fyria, for short—lay in chains.

Planting both of her feet, Lia used her full weight to spin the chained soldier about. His forehead struck a metal stanchion with a meaty smack. The soldier slumped. Unholy windrocs, that crazy maneuver had worked? No time to exult.

“Aye, I’m little,” she snapped, relieving the man of his sword. “Want to play some more?”

“Mutiny!” yelled the first soldier. “Help!”

Lia swayed away from his flickering blade. She pirouetted her parry with the poise of a skilled dancer. A cut appeared on her arm as if by magic. She flung her elbow upward, catching the soldier in the throat. As he choked, Lia finished him with a sharp rap of her sword pommel to the base of his skull.

The cabin door crashed open. Half a dozen soldiers boiled into the room, led by the hard-bitten Captain of the Royal Guard, Ra’aba. “You,” he growled. “Ever the troublemaker!”

“Traitor!” Lia spat in return. She raised her blade.

Captain Ra’aba, called “the Roc” after the windroc, a ferocious avian predator with a wingspan of up to eighteen feet, stilled his men with a gesture. “Hualiama,” he said, his scarred face twisting into a grin as he mangled her full name with great force, “little Lia, I trained you myself. How can you possibly hope to best me?”

She said, “I can’t. But I will protect my family—”

“Your family?” he snorted. “You’re a royal ward—about as much a Princess as I am.” When she only raised her elfin chin as if wishing to skewer him upon its point, he added, “Everyone knows you’re an unwanted, bastard whelp of a cliff-fox the Queen took pity on.”

Hualiama flushed hotly. “At least I’m not a worm who betrayed the people who gave him everything. Go cast yourself into a Cloudlands volcano—”

Ra/aba drew himself up with a sneer. “You forget you’re speaking to the future King of Fra’anior, girl. Now, kneel and swear fealty, or it is I who will be casting you off this Dragonship.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Oh, little Lia, who’d stop me? A Dragon?”

Relish twisted his lips; the harshness of his scorn unnerved her. Little Lia. The nickname she hated more than any other.

Staring up into his flat, fulvous eyes, Hualiama realized why she had never trusted this man. Her sword-point wavered; the Roc still had not drawn his weapon. She knew how fast he was with a sword. Ra’aba had never been beaten. If the legends spoke true, no weapon had ever touched him, neither in training nor in battle.

“Last chance,” he said. His stance bespoke nothing but absolute command and confidence. Lia tried to summon her courage back up from her boots, as the Isles saying went. “Girl, you’re fifteen summers of age. You’re a foot shorter than I am, hopelessly clumsy with a blade, and if I’m not mistaken, today’s your birthday. Choose wisely. Choose life.”

“Just as you’re promising life to my family?”

“Banishment.” He shrugged. “Uncomfortable ad permanent, aye, but hardly deadly. After all, which Fra’aniorian Islander would accept me if I had royal blood on my hands? King Chalcion will abdicate; I shall ascend the Onyx Throne in his stead.”

He rolled his muscular shoulders, a silent threat. “Now, haven’t you fomented enough grief for one day, Hualiama? Join me, and I’ll promise you a place in my kingdom.”

– – – – –

The Author

Marc is a South African-born author who loves writing about dragons and Africa, preferably both at the same time. He lives and works in Ethiopia with his wife and 4 children, 2 dogs and a variable number of marabou storks that roost on the acacia trees out back. On a good night there are also hyenas patrolling the back fence.

He’s the author of over a dozen fantasy books including 6 rip-roaring dragon fantasy bestsellers. Dragonfriend won a Gold Award for Fantasy in the 2016 IPPY Book Awards. He’s currently working on Dragonsoul, the third book in the Dragonfriend series.

Catch up with Marc at:
Twitter: @marcauthor
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authormarc
Website: www.marcsecchia.com

When he’s not writing about Africa or dragons Marc can be found traveling to remote locations. He thinks there’s nothing better than standing on a mountaintop wondering what lies over the next horizon.

Now that I’ve skillfully made you feel bad for buying coffee, buy my e-book that will skillfully make you feel good. #marketing

Keep going if you’ve heard this one:

“If you can spend $4 on a cup of coffee at Starbucks why can’t you spend $4 on an ebook?”

Or this one:

“Support local/indie/self-published authors! Write a review!”

Perhaps because I have many author friends,¹ I see many of these shareable slogans, often with stock photos of coffee, libraries, or reading devices.

Every time I have either scrolled past them, unaffected, or else felt mild annoyance.

Then it dawned on me why the slogans don’t work for me or even cause opposite reactions.

Even better, I think I know how indie authors can fix this. More on that in my next article.

The other sorts of “marketing” I’ll call audience-shaming. It doesn’t work for me because:

1. I am selfish.

Maybe Christians ought not think this way. But right or wrong, when it comes to books and stories, I’m not a generous soul. I’m a consumer. Almost a materialist. Sinful? Maybe, and if so then I must work on that. But for now, let us not be sentimental. Let us recognize reality.

2. I’m a defensive consumer.

If I go to an auto dealership, I don’t go with eyes wide at all the beautiful vehicles that gleam under fluttering flags. I go with my shields up and “JUST LOOKING FOR NOW, THANK YOU” phasers set to maximum.

If a salesperson pitches a particular car, I will listen politely. But I’ll still be defensive.

What if a salesperson “shamed” me about a particular car? “You would spend $20,000 on a house down payment but not on this vehicle? Don’t you want to support local dealerships?”

Well, I might not leave right away, but I will feel amused.

3. I like known coffee better than unknown ebooks.

Understandable frustration. But this tells me nothing (or worse) about what kind of novels Mr. Weeks actually writes.

I’ll shoot straight here, folks: Yes, I will spend $4 on a Starbucks coffee, not every day or week, but perhaps once every three months. And I will only rarely spend the same on an unknown e-book for $3.99. Here’s why.²

1. I like coffee better. I did not even touch it until after college, but now we are friends.
2. Coffee gives me good feelings. It usually makes me feel better. I like feeling better.
3. Coffee has both aesthetic and practical benefit. Coffee tastes good, especially with flavored creamers. (I’ve tried Taking it Black to be cool. Can’t.) That’s aesthetic. Coffee also has magical powers that help clear drowsiness and help me work. That’s practical.

But “support” is what we do for the weak and needy.

Indie author audience-shaming slogans accidentally do the exact opposite of these:

1. The slogans don’t make me (right or wrong) feel friendly. They make me feel more like I’ve been asked to bathe a dog or clean a toilet—a necessary chore, but still a chore.
2. They don’t make me feel good. They make me feel bad. Yes, sometimes it’s good to feel bad. For example, the Gospel should sometimes make us feel bad because we’re rebels against God who need to perform the unpleasant yet vital chore of repentance. But an ebook should, in theory, be about enjoyment and skillful storytelling, not Convictions.
3. They don’t promise aesthetic or practical benefit. If anything, they imply the rather off-putting notion that I ought to take time or spend money on something that is entirely for the benefit of someone else. Again, this may be necessary. Christians show their faith by caring for others, especially the needy. But aren’t “the needy” more like elderly/sick people at church, or children who need water in Africa? The marketing seems to clash. It says, “Support me. I am really needy. But I’m still able to tell you a good story.” I think, “Either you are really needy, or you are a great storyteller, but you cannot be both.”

4. Shops like Starbucks worked hard for success.

Starbucks has done much to add value to their coffee experience.

1. Starbucks invests. Few of us knew about Starbucks before it was cool. The Seattle-based franchise began with one store in 1971. Then its investors poured millions of dollars into ads, marketing, and new stores. That’s 40-plus years of failure and success.
2. Starbucks tells a story. Brief economics lesson here: The company’s coffee has “added value” because of brand awareness and the “story” Starbucks tells. It’s a positive, catchy lifestyle “story” in which cool/smart/fun people hang out at Starbucks coffee shops to read, flirt, think, date, hang out, study, pursue dreams, or even engineer Social Justice. This isn’t unfair or suspicious. It’s capitalism + culture + risk + time = profit and success.
3. Starbucks has proven good feelings/memories. I bought my first Starbucks drink during a New Attitude conference in 2006 in Louisville, Kentucky. Then I heard Justin Taylor give an excellent presentation on the “emerging church” (remember that label?). That was a good feeling/memory. I also recall my sister-in-law, Rosie—she worked at Starbucks—buying my wife and me hot salted caramel mochas. We were heading to the Smoky Mountains for a vacation in December 2012. That’s a great memory. And a Starbucks beverage became associated with it. Good trick, Starbucks, but it worked.

Now I’ll leave my questions open:

1. Do (or can) authors invest in their “products” with business partners over 40 years?
2. Do authors strive to create a “story” about the experiences they promise?
3. Do authors work to provoke good feelings/memories in potential fans?

I’m no marketing pro. But I do know what marketing works better on me. And—at the risk of being too negative here!—I’ll expand on these thoughts more positively next week.

For now, I’m off to enjoy coffee and an ebook.