Christian Fantasy Blog Tour - Fandom part 2

This week's Christian fantasy blog tour highlights Christian Fandom. What did I find on this site that so revolutionized my reading and writing?

First and most important: I was not alone.

My favorite part of the Christian Fandom site is the interviews. This is where I spent the bulk of my first day or two when I discovered the fandom site. You may well ask, who do they interview? Remember...you asked!

In February 2000 they interviewed Kathy Tyers. Through the interview I learned about her novels with Bantam in the late 80s and their subsequent re-release by Bethany House in the past few years. She also is responsible for two of the Star Wars novels. Because I read this interview, I ordered in (through interlibrary loan) her Firebird trilogy, which I bought afterwards.

I also met Randall Ingermanson for the first time through his interview dated December 2003. Randy has multiple books to his credit, but he may be best known for the Snowflake method of novel plotting. He also publishes a free monthly writers' ezine. If you sign up, tell him Valerie Comer sent you!

In April 2004 they interviewed Steve Laube. Through this interview I learned that there are such things as Christian literary agencies...and at least one agent that loves Christian sff. He'd been an acquisitions editor at Bethany House and in that position had helped start the careers of some of my favorite authors.

The October 2004 interviewwas with Donita K. Paul. Although I wasn't able to get her books through interlibrary loan, I was finally able to purchase the first two this spring and thoroughly enjoyed them. But Christian Fandom is where I first heard of her and the other ones listed above.

By the time Karen Hancockwas interviewed in January 2006, I'd already read two of her novels. She has become a favorite author of mine in the interim and is a member of this blog tour. She blogs at Writing from the Edge.

There are other interviews on the Christian Fandom site on a hit-or-miss sort-of-monthly basis for the last five or six years. I've highlighted here the ones that made the biggest impression on me.

Not only did I come to realize that others shared my passion for sff, but that Christians were writing it and getting published. This was a HUGE discovery for me in my personal writing life. It gave me hope and a direction. Maybe one day, Lord willing, I'll have a book or ten published and Christian Fandom will want to interview me. One can always hope!

Meanwhile, I'm not going to get published if I don't get back to work on the novels, so I'll get right on that. If you want to read more about the Christian Fandom site, check out all the blog links on yesterday's post. Many of these bloggers are posting every day this week about the site.