Jim Rubart's Book of Days coming in January

On the heels of his successful novel Rooms, James Rubart will release Book of Days in January 2011.

Summary:

What if you were losing your most treasured memories? Of your wife who passed away, of your dad who died far too young? What if you heard of a book whaere all of those memories are recorded and you could get them back? And what if this book also told your future? Would you believe it? Would you go on a desperate search for it, holding onto a strand of hope it would bring healing and answer all your questions?

Young Cameron Vaux's mind is slipping. Memories of his wife, killed two years earlier in a car accident, are vanishing just as his late father predicted they would. Memories he knows are critical to remember. But his only hope for answers, and a cure, seems to lie in search for a book--and a God--he doesn't believe in.

Read our interview with Jim.

ACFW Book of the Year Awards become the Carol Awards

This just in from ICRS:

We're excited to share with you the announcement our President, Cynthia Ruchti, and CEO, Colleen Coble are making on behalf of ACFW:

The International Christian Retailers Show seemed the ideal venue for American Christian Fiction Writers—now more than 2100 members strong—to make an announcement of significance to Christian publishers, authors, and retailers who keep their eye on Christian fiction.

For ten years, ACFW has considered itself in partnership with those who publish and sell the books our members write. The process of getting great stories into the hands of readers makes each link a necessity.

That's why we've chosen this event, among these industry people, to announce a major advancement in what has to this point been known as ACFW's Book of the Year awards.

Each year, publishers and individual authors enter hundreds of recent Christian fiction releases in the ACFW Book of the Year Awards contest. Past Book of the Year winners have included noted authors Tracie Peterson, DiAnn Mills, Robin Lee Hatcher, Kim Vogel Sawyer, and many other skilled CBA novelists honored by ACFW for excellence in Christian fiction.

In 1979, Bethany Publishing House editor Carol Johnson made a bold move that served as a catalyst for unprecedented growth in Christian fiction. It was a decision that changed the face of the industry and the content of readers' bookshelves. Mrs. Johnson championed Christian fiction by acquiring author Janette Oke, whose Love Comes Softly blazed a trail for future storytellers.

ACFW owes a great debt of gratitude to the pioneers of Christian fiction and to those whose efforts have helped make Christian fiction the storytelling powerhouse it is today. To honor editorial pioneer Carol Johnson and others like her who envisioned how Christian fiction could make a mark in the publishing world, ACFW has renamed our Book of the Year Award. From this point on, the highest achievement in our award program for published authors will be The Carol Award.

Asked to comment on Carol Johnson's impact, Bethany House Publishers' Vice President of Editorial David Horton notes, "Carol's vision for the future of fiction, her belief in the power of story to share God's truth, her respect for the art of writing, her trust in the editorial process, and her abiding concern for her authors set the course that Bethany House continues to follow today. Her acquisitions knocked open doors we now take for granted. The books she edited touched millions of lives."

Carol Johnson will be present for the awards banquet at ACFW's annual conference September 17-20 in Indianapolis to present the inaugural Carol Awards.

Janette Oke will attend as well, to join conferees and industry professionals in celebrating the growth of Christian fiction and to present Carol Johnson with ACFW's first ever Lifetime Achievement Award.

Visit the ACFW website.

2010 Christy Award Winners!

The 2010 Christy Awards presentation was held Saturday evening, June 26, 2010, at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand in advance of the International Christian Retail Show. The dessert reception featured a keynote address entitled “Be That Well” by best-selling author and
entrepreneur Lisa Samson and was emceed by editor Lonnie Hull DuPont, Baker Publishing Group. To involve Christian fiction fans not able to attend the event in person, a liveblog of the event was provided online, and an archive of the event can be accessed online at www.ChristyAwards.com.

The Christy Awards honor the best in Christian fiction in nine categories. The Christy Awards
Advisory Board is pleased to announce the following winners of the 2010 Christy Awards.

Contemporary Romance
Breach of Trust by DiAnn Mills (Tyndale House Publishers)

Read our interview with DiAnn Mills






Contemporary Series, Sequels & Novellas
Who Do I Talk To? by Neta Jackson (Thomas Nelson)

Read our review.
Read our interview with Neta.






Contemporary Standalone
The Passion of Mary-Margaret by Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson)

Read our review






First Novel
Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent (Tyndale House Publishers)

Read our review
Read our interview with Jennifer





Historical
Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin (Bethany House Publishers: a Division of Baker Publishing Group)







Historical Romance
The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen (Bethany House Publishers: a Division of Baker Publishing Group)







Suspense
Lost Mission by Athol Dickson (Howard Books: a Division of Simon & Schuster)

Read our review






Visionary
By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson (Marcher Lord Press)

Read our review






Young Adult
North! or Be Eaten by Andrew Peterson (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

Read our review
Read our interview with Andrew




The Christy Awards are proud to honor both Catherine Marshall and her novel through the annual presentation of the Christy Awards, which recognize novels of excellence. The Christy Awards were established in 1999 to nurture and encourage creativity and quality in the writing and publishing of fiction written from a Christian worldview; to bring a new awareness of the breadth and depth of fiction choices available, helping to broaden the readership; and, to provide an opportunity to recognize novelists whose work may not have reached bestseller status.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChristyAward
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ChristyAward

Click here to read the full list of nominees.

And here's a pdf of all the winners with a summary of each book.

Visit the Christy Awards website.

B&H Thriller Book Tour Starts Friday!

This week on Friday, the B&H Thriller Tour launches. The four B&H authors taking part in this tour are Brandilyn Collins, Tosca Lee, Robin Caroll, and Jim Rubart. It will start in St. Louis, go to Philadelphia and Baltimore, and end up in New York. Note: additional New York area venues are being booked. Here's the schedule so far:

Friday, June 25: St. Louis area

2:00 – 4:00: Parable Bookstore
1716 Missouri State Road
Arnold, MO 63010
636-287-1231

6:00 – 8:00: Family Christian Store
167 Mid Rivers Mall Dr
St Peters, MO 63376-4309
636-278-2895

Saturday, June 26th

12:00 – 2:00 PM: Mainstreet Books
307 South Main Street
St. Charles, MO 63301
636-949-0105

4:00 – 6:00 PM: Lifeway Christian Store
11977 Saint Charles Rock Road
Bridgeton, MO 63044
314-344-0014

Sunday, June 27th
2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Barnes & Noble
721 Gravois Road
Fenton, MO 63026
636-326-2148

Thursday, July 1: Philadelphia area and Baltimore
11:00 – 1:00--Lifeway Christian Store
2320 Industrial Highway
York, PA 17402
717-757-5311

4:00 – 6:00 PM--Lifeway Christian Store
White Marsh Plaza Shopping Center
7900 Honeygo Blvd
Baltimore, MD 21236
410-931-8038

Friday, July 9th: New Jersey
7:00-9:00 PM: Borders
290 Commons Way
Bridgewater, NJ 08807
(908) 231-0111

Saturday, July 10: New York area
1:00 – 3:00: Barnes & Noble
290 Baychester Ave.
Bronx, NY 10475
718-862-3945

NOTE: Brandilyn will be signing posters that look like this too (click to enlarge). Very cool:

Renee Riva's new book on Amazon Kindle for $.99!!

Check out Renee Riva's new book Farley's Five & Dime on Amazon Kindle for $.99! You can't lose with a price like that.

Description:
Farley’s Five-and-Dime plops the reader into a fun, folksy, small town setting, with a touch of romance, humor, and sweet southern charm.

Set in the small town of Hog Eye Holler, Kentucky, in the 1950’s. Kids, and the young at heart alike, will enjoy meeting eleven-year-old Mazie May Farley; a cross between Pippi Longstocking and Caddie Woodlawn. The high spirited, red-headed whirlwind who helps her family run the local Five-and–Dime, has her sights on the popular town hunk-a-hunk, Billy Ray Baxter. In her comical, self-defeating schemes to snag Billy Ray away from Emma Jean Jacobs, Mazie is taken by surprise at the outcome of her high jinx attempts. When Billy fails to fall for Mazie’s numerous attempts to get him to invite her to the long anticipated Sweetheart Waltz, she raises the stakes higher and higher. Chaos and calamity ensue. The story ends on a note of sweet serendipity—but may not be exactly what Mazie was shooting for. Sometimes life has a way of surprising us when we are busy making other plans.

Read our interview with Renee at TitleTrakk.com.

Braveheart screenwriter to pen novel for Tyndale House

Oscar-nominated screenwriter and New York Times bestselling author Randall Wallace will publish a new novel with Tyndale House Publishers, currently scheduled for release in the summer of 2011.

Wallace’s book, a contemporary drama about a grieving young doctor’s journey to recover and employ his unique surgical skills, is tentatively titled The Touch.

“Randall Wallace has an innate ability to tell a story that stirs our desire to display the best human qualities—courage, nobility, sacrifice, and faith. That’s why we’re delighted to have the opportunity to partner together to bring his inspiring and compelling writing to a new and broader audience of readers,” said Karen Watson, Associate Publisher of Fiction, Tyndale.

Wallace has written four feature films: We Were Soldiers, Pearl Harbor, The Man in the Iron Mask, and the 1995 Academy Award–winning film Braveheart. For his work on Braveheart, he received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. He is currently directing the film Secretariat,to be released by Disney Studios in the fall of 2010. A Southern California resident, Wallace is the founder of Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity.

In the publishing agreement with Tyndale House, Mr. Wallace was represented by Mel Berger

of WME.

Tyndale House Publishers was founded in 1962 by Dr. Kenneth N. Taylor as a means of publishing The Living Bible. Tyndale publishes the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT), and other resources for home and family. Within the past ten years, more than thirty Tyndale nonfiction or fiction books have become New York Times bestsellers, including the popular Left Behind fiction series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins and novels by Karen Kingsbury, Francine Rivers, and Joel C. Rosenberg. Tyndale is substantially owned by the Tyndale House Foundation. As a result, the company’s profits help underwrite charitable works around the world. Tyndale House is located in Carol Stream, Illinois.

New Online Christian Fiction Magazine Coming This Fall

NASHVILLE, TN—(June 15, 2010)—This fall, Salem Publishing will launch FamilyFiction, a major resource for helping consumers discover the best in Christian fiction, through a bimonthly digital magazine, email newsletter and website. FamilyFiction’s coverage will span the breadth of Christian fiction—Amish, Historical, Suspense, Speculative, Romance, Contemporary and Young Adult—with timely news updates, up-to-date release lists, reviews, interviews, book trailers and more.

“FamilyFiction addresses a great need,” says Michael Miller, General Manager of Salem Publishing. “We look forward to exposing more and more Christian fiction readers to these great authors.”

“There is a reason Jesus taught in parables,” says Robin Lee Hatcher, best-selling author of the Sisters of Bethlehem Springs series (Zondervan). “The power of story is that it puts us into the lives of the characters, letting us see and experience things through those characters. In the process, we learn and sometimes are changed.”

“Fiction is a powerful tool in the hands of believers,” notes Francine Rivers, New York Times bestselling author of Her Mother’s Hope (Tyndale House). “It is a non-threatening way to share our faith with unsaved friends and relatives who might not be willing to read the Bible or talk about Jesus. I know of many new authors who will gain a wider audience through this new resource. The quality of Christian fiction just keeps getting better. FamilyFiction will be a great place to let it shine!”

Adds Robert Liparulo, author of the YA time-travel thriller Frenzy (Thomas Nelson): “What? A way to find and promote stories by Christian authors who share my values? Where do I sign up? Way to go, guys!”

“I applaud Salem Communications in the launch of FamilyFiction,” says DiAnn Mills, author of The Call of Duty series (Tyndale) and the historical romance A Woman Called Sage (Zondervan). “This new resource will be helpful to me in my various roles—writer, promoter of Christian fiction, trainer and encourager of authors—and avid reader!”

Salem Publishing plans to launch the FamilyFiction digital magazine, newsletter and comprehensive website Fall 2010. In the meantime, Christian fiction readers can sign up for updates at FamilyFiction.com and connect on Facebook.com/FamilyFiction and Twitter.com/FamilyFiction.

About Salem Publishing
Salem Publishing is a top producer of Christian-themed magazines and websites that reach a broad spectrum of the Christian market. Salem Publishing is owned by Salem Communications (NASDAQ: SALM), a leading U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider and magazine and book publisher targeting audiences interested in Christian and family-themed content and conservative values. In addition to its radio properties and Salem Publishing, Salem Communications owns Salem Radio Network, which syndicates talk, news and music programming to approximately 2,000 affiliates; Salem Radio Representatives, a national radio advertising sales force; and Salem Web Network, an Internet provider of Christian content and online streaming. Additional information about Salem Publishing may be accessed at the company’s website, SalemPublishing.com.