Interruption: The Gospel According to Crystal Justine

Interruption: The Gospel According to Crystal Justine
by Tracey Michae'l Lewis
Published by:
NewSEASON Books
PO Box 52545
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19115

Here's the Blurb:

Interruption: The Gospel According to Crystal Justine is a fascinating journey through the life of Crystal Justine (CJ), a young woman who has, for most of her life, been compared to her mother, Sasha Renee, in both the best and the worst ways. Even as she struggles to escape the image and legacy of this enigma of a woman, she finds herself unconsciously acting out her mother's (and grandmother's) past mistakes. Her relationships with men, although few and far between, has been tainted by "the thing she cannot say" and her faith has been weakened by the emotional and spiritual blows her life has taken. This dynamic story of deliverance keeps readers, page by page, on the edge of their proverbial seats, wondering if CJ will simply succumb to the darkness that has chased her soul for as long as she could remember or if she will be the one to finally put an end to the generational curse that has tried to consume her family. Will she find true love, joy, and peace for the first time?

Here's a post at theotalks

JUNE 13th @ 4pm - Book Release and Signing Extravaganza - CLC Bookstore - Chestnut Hill, 7700 Crittenden Street, Philadelphia, PA 19118

JUNE 20TH @ 11am - Book Signing at the African American Museum in Philadelphia - 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

You can buy it at amazon here

coming back to myself

Finished watching Little Miss Sunshine and returned to myself in a deeper way. Much of American Christian Culture and American Christian fiction is about being conformed to the world. The stories often end with the "saved" heroine returning to the family fold and to normal life...as Americans know it. Christianity is then defined as a return to the world and to normalcy. But God is not particularly pro-normalcy, is He? The ways of the world is anathema to God who wants a peculiar people. But unfortunately, I'm one of the few Bible-believing conservative Christians who doesn't believe that normalcy, propriety, and All-American behavior is the way to be.

Discovered Chang-Rae Lee, a Korean American author who deals with assimilation, acculturation, societal alienation and double allegiances. Loving his themes. As a Jamaican-American Black Bible-believing Christian with an artistic bent, I've often found myself stuck in situation where I'm allied to two or three different groups. When one is in a room full of judgemental Christians who want one to dress and behave "normally" or at least conformed to the world, and the room also contains gay non-christian or Muslim folks who don't judge you and who accept you as you are...what are you to do? As a minority, when I watch the news I find myself on the side of the Muslims because they are minorities, against them because they mock Christians because we believe in Jesus being the son of God. What to do? You ought to see me watching FoxNews of Democracy Now. I like Fox News because they're not going to mock Christians. I dislike them because they are racist as they come. I like Democracy Now because it challenges the smugness of American culture. I dislike them because they mock Christians. What to do?

Be myself...whatever that is. And try to show that there are Bible-Believing Christians out there with an artist soul, who have liberal leadings in some politics, who do not worship the culture and behavior of United States and American Christians. I'm sure there are more of us out there.

Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges

Faith Awakened is a Christian speculative fiction novel by Grace Bridges which plays with the idea of virtual life.




Here is the blurb:


If you could design your own virtual world
to live in, what would it look like?
If you lived on a dark and empty planet,
how far would you go to save your life?
Is God a computer programmer?
And can he take you to heaven... before you die?

Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges from Lulu Press and Waitemata Books. In virtual stasis to escape a deadly virus, an ex-slave in Ireland finds far more than just survival.


Here's the youtube trailer



This is the Amazon site for those who want to order it.

Other authors touring Grace's book include Caprice Hokstad, author of The Duke's Handmaid. You can check out Caprice's blog here. According to Caprice, the book is kind of a cross between the Matrix and The Stand. Interesting, uh?

Lyn has a review up at
Bloggin' Outloud

Check out Rachelle Sperling's
Land of my sojourn

You can also check out Geralyn beauchamp's blog.

There are, of course, reviews for Faith Awakened at the Christian Fiction Review Blog

Check out a review at Book Stove

And there's a really great interview with the author here at Lena Nelson Dooley's blog

Also check out an interview with Grace at
Virtual book tour de net blogspot

Although the story is set in the "virtual world" of Ireland, and Grace, herself, is an Irish New Zealander living in Germany, the internet is a small place and you can contact Grace at the following sites:

Shoutlife

Myspace

Goodreads

and
The Lost Genre Guild/

Plus you can also visit her site:

http://www.gracebridges.com/