Step back in time with Real Armor of God.com to relive the past – and keep part of the olde world with you! Find a huge selection of historically designed items from the Medieval Ages, Roman and Renaissance Era. Battle Ready Swords to wield against a mighty foe, Functional Shields to deflect each attacking blow, Historical Clothing and Costumes to complete your ensemble. Everything you need and more!

As I prepare for the fantasy fiction book tour this July, I’m particularly grateful to one of our tour sponsors. John Cooper has generously given each of the four authors a sword (to match the ones in their fantasy novels) and shields we can use as set pieces at our book signings (or for protection if we run into some battles – LOL!)

Since our fantasy novels feature plenty of sword work, this is an exciting chance to touch something tangible, as if it’s sprung from the pages of our stories.

If you’ve never seen his website, be sure to visit!

Today, my blogging friend, Deena, told me she’d picked me for a Blogger Reflection award. I’m so honored! You can read about it at her site.

… Nashville, TN
Oak Ridge, TN
Knoxville, TN
Asheville, NC
Raleigh, NC
Washington DC
Alexandria, VA
Newark, DE
Brooklyn or Manhattan, NY?

I’m coming for a visit!

I’m looking for a grassroots volunteer promoter in each of these cities – someone to gather friends, tell the community/church/neighbors, and come out to see the group of Fantasy Fiction Authors who are on tour in July.

I’ve found folks in the other cities we are visiting, but the ones listed above are still up for grabs. 🙂

Of course the tour organizers, our four publishers, and the venue managers are all working to professionally promote the events. But it always helps to have a few buddies in each town, too. Please email me if you’re interested!

More tour info coming soon!

Blessings!
Sharon

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been invited to be part of an East-coast book tour this July. One of the tour authors, Christopher Hopper, created this video trailer about our trip. Enjoy!

My son told me about audible.com, where you can get downloads of lots of books. I tried a trial membership (with a couple free downloads) and while exploring discovered the audio book of Renovating Becky Miller! So fun! The narrator, Johanna Parker, has also narrated books by NY Times bestseller Meg Cabot (of Princess Diaries fame) so I’m blessed to have that talent applied to the performance of the book.

My picks for downloads? Since I already have a Bible on my iPod, I picked Richard Foster’s book on Prayer and Phillip Yancy’s Rumors of Another World. Anyone else like listening to books? I’m not a very auditory learner, so I’m interested to see how well I stay focused as I listen to these books. How about you? What are your favorite books to listen to?

Last night my husband and I settled into creaky lawn chairs on a grassy hill at a local park and enjoyed hours of amazing Celtic music and dance. The backdrop included trees in so many dappled greens they looked like an Impressionist painting. The lake behind the bandshell held enough water lilies to do Monet proud. Children joined hands and skipped in free form choreography in an open space near the stage. Young men rested back on their elbows and studied the clouds. Mother’s unpacked snacks for their broods, while elderly couples held hands, nodded, and smiled. Father’s bounced toddlers on their shoulders. Musicians gifted us with pipes and flutes, guitars and voice. Reels, jigs, and plaintive song.

Was this what is was like when communities were smaller? When clans gathered at twilight to lift the burdens of the day with a story and a song? When music filled the open air and birds flitted overhead in time to the tin whistle?

And why is it that live music has so much more breath than even the best of recordings? Happy, happy sigh.

Thank you, Lord, for music.
And for the men and women who give so much time to hone their skills and offer the beauty of music in ways that feed the soul.

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In addition to the concert, I had another treat yesterday. Bob Crittenden of the radio show “The Meeting Place” interviewed me about The Restorer and asked wonderful questions about God-stuff, and about faith and culture. You can download the interview from his website (the menu of guests is in alphabetically order).

Click here for the links to reviews, interviews, and chats about the Restorer.
(new posts added frequently, so check back often)
Click here for info on free bookmarks.
Five winners announced in the “Search for the Restorer” contest.
. . . Scroll down for my recent blog posts.

As I said on the first day, I’ve been a member of the CSFF Blog Tour group for about a year, and have enjoyed the discussions each month, and loved interviewing authors, discovering new websites, and learning about new books of speculative fiction — in a wide variety of styles — by Christian authors. Uniting to bring attention and support to authors who are publishing in this genre is a huge gift, and I’m honored and humbled to be the recipient of that gift this month.

Thank you to everyone who participated. My prayer is that the efforts of the CSFF Blog Tour will help open doors for more and more Christian authors to publish in this genre, and stimulate greater readership for those who do. The founders of this group epitomize Philippians 2:4.

There’s been so much activity, it’s hard to keep up on highlighting everything. But I need to mention Grace. She emailed me the weekend she read The Restorer and didn’t know some very hard things I was facing at the time. Her words of appreciation were a direct blessing from God at a crucial time. When you visit her, be sure to congratulate her on her new release! Jason had some great questions for me, so be sure to visit him. (By the way, I did a number of interviews in person, on the phone, or via email ahead of time for the tour, and enjoyed each conversation a TON! What a bunch of cool people!) I also have special gratitude for Merrie, who worked to coax all the spec-fic folk together at Mount Hermon and encouraged prayer for each other.

For those of you so led, please keep me in prayer as I head to ICRS soon, and then embark on the adventure of the east-coast book tour with three other CBA fantasy authors. Please also pray that The Restorer gets into the hands of those that would be blessed by it.

Blessings!
Sharon

The Restorer tour continues! Be sure to drop by Speculative Faith and Rebecca Miller’s blog, and check out author Wayne Batson’s place for an interesting male perspective. I think Hanna’s post wins for most succinct and uplifting at the same time. 🙂 Tina is doing drawings for free books, as is Jill Hart. and if you visit Heather’s review, be sure to post a comment from a future date to mess with her head (I’m making her crazy because I use future dates to keep my ongoing blogpost on the top – hee hee!) Eve asked about how long the series is, but for some strange computery reason I wasn’t able to leave a comment/answer at her site. Three have been contracted, so far. The second book releases in September.

Happy exploring!
Have a blessed day!
Sharon