Showing posts with label Christian Fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Fiction. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

GUEST POST BY DONNA FORD WITH U.S. REVIEW OF BOOKS: "Seventh Dimension - The Prescience"


Seventh Dimension - The Prescience: A Young Adult Fantasy 
by Lorilyn Roberts
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform




Click to Tweet:  "Time travel is more dangerous...The chasm between the physical world and spiritual realm is becoming unstable, as Satan and his minions gain more control."

Daniel and Shale were betrothed by Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) at the end of the previous book in the series. When they return to the present dimension in Israel, they encounter bombings and danger as the Gog-Magog war begins. They run to a bomb shelter, where a rescue dog finds Shale who can speak to animals. Everyone has their unique gifts of service; Shale has the gift of hearing, and Daniel has the gift of reading minds. Dodging bombs to follow the dog, they discover a young child with her mother dead beside her. The dog reveals her name is Shira, and she has no living relatives. That’s how the newly-engaged couple becomes parents of a three-year-old in the middle of a war predicted in the Bible.


Shale tries to call her mother in America, but the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack by Korea has disrupted all communication there. It may be safer to continue their search for Daniel’s father in the first century, back where Daniel first met Shale and raced his chariot against other time travelers. Time travel is accomplished via star-gates opened by CERN and are either controlled by good or evil forces. The Illuminati sent Nidal and Tariq, mercenaries from the future, to first-century Jerusalem in order to steal Bible scrolls telling of Yeshua’s life, death, and resurrection. The Illuminati can track their movement by a skin implant thus assuring they remove every record of Yeshua’s existence. Daniel’s brother, Jacob, has access to a government star-gate. Demons try to stop their travel, but an angel delivers Daniel, Shale, and Shira back to the first century. They may not be safe yet. The ventriloquist tries to steal Shira. And what if those who wished to arrest them find out Daniel will race against Tariq’s chariot once more in order to learn the truth about his father?

This novel, the fifth book in the series, combines young adult fantasy with historical fiction. It is written about the times near the end of what Bible scholars call the seven-year tribulation. Previous books in the series covered the first century when Yeshua was on earth. The author uses the cliffhanger technique at the close of each book, and the casual reader who has not read the previous books should thoroughly read the first chapters of this one to help make sense of what is happening.

Teen and young adult readers want to see a life they haven’t seen before. What better vehicle to introduce Biblical events than through time travel? There is also movement between the present dimension and the seventh, or Spiritual, dimension. The Prescience is the title of a book from God’s library in the Genesis garden; it reveals Biblical events to those who love and serve God. Reading in it, Daniel sees his future as one of the 144,000 young Jewish preachers who will testify to Israel about Yeshua. Daniel has the seal on his forehead to prove it.

Life lessons mix with the buzzwords. Daniel explains to Shale that people can have many futures. When she requested to marry Daniel, her future was changed because she missed the rapture and is now alive during the tribulation. Another learning experience happens when the couple leaves the garden by train. As it begins to fill up, Shale hears the occupants bleating like sheep and goats. She imagines seeing the car floor dirty with excrement and urine until she experiences compassion enough to see them as people too. It is a test all must pass who wish to be compassionate.



Saturday, June 16, 2018

BOOK AWARD: “SEVENTH DIMENSION - THE PRESCIENCE: A Young Adult Fantasy” is a Finalist in Two Categories for the 2018 International Book Awards







AMERICAN BOOK FEST ANNOUNCES
WINNERS AND FINALISTS OF
THE 2018 INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

Mainstream & Independent Titles Score Top Honors in
the 9th Annual International Book Awards

Penguin Random House, Simon and Schuster, Disney Hyperion, John Wiley & Sons, Tarcher Perigee, Rowman & Littlefield, Atria Books, Tor/Forge, Bear & Co./Inner Traditions, New American Library, Hachette Book Group and hundreds of national and international Independent Houses contribute to this year’s Outstanding Competition!


LOS ANGELES – American Book Fest announced the winners and finalists of THE 2018 INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS (IBA)on May 27, 2018. Over 400 winners and finalists were announced in over 90 categories. Awards were presented for titles published in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of American Book Fest, said this year’s contest yielded over 2,000 entries from authors and publishers around the world, which were then narrowed down to the final results.
Keen says of the awards, “The 2018 results represent a phenomenal mix of books from a wide array of publishers throughout the world. With a full publicity and marketing campaign promoting the results of IBA, this year’s winners and finalists will gain additional media coverage for the summer season.”
Keen adds, “IBA’s success begins with the enthusiastic participation of authors and publishers and continues with our distinguished panel of industry judges who bring to the table their extensive editorial, PR, marketing, and design expertise.”
More information about the 10th Annual International Book Awards can be found at http://www.InternationalBookAwards.com
American Book Fest covers books from all sections of the publishing industry—mainstream, independent, & self-published. More information can be found at http://www.AmericanBookFest.com
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Fiction: Visionary

Finalist
Seventh Dimension: The Prescience, A Young Adult Fantasy, Book 5 by Lorilyn Roberts
CreateSpace
978-1976074516

Best Cover Design: Fiction

Finalist
Seventh Dimension: The Prescience, A Young Adult Fantasy, Book 5 by Lorilyn Roberts
CreateSpace
978-1976074516


June 15, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase


Sunday, May 27, 2018

BOOK REVIEW: “Seventh Dimension - The Prescience: A Young Adult Fantasy,” Five Stars from Readers’ Favorite Book Reviewer Melinda Hills








Seventh Dimension - The Prescience: A Young Adult Fantasy by Lorilyn Roberts is the fifth book in the Seventh Dimension series that take on time travel. Daniel and Shale, a recently engaged (betrothed) couple, found a lost orphan girl in Jerusalem and try to save her from the devastated city. From there, they embark on God’s plan and return to the first century and search for Daniel’s father who has gone missing. Finding his father could be the first step in unraveling the mystery of a tragedy that is waiting to happen. However, it is proving to be more dangerous and difficult than both of them ever thought. There are far too many enemies and dangers awaiting them, and all they can do is fight them together. But can they? 




With religious themes mixed with coming of age, the novel is definitely very different and the author seems to be in her element here. I enjoyed the time travel, and how the two main characters fought the odds together and came out victorious in the end. Although I have not read the previous novels in the series, I still enjoyed it and caught up with the story really quickly. 

Right from the beginning, the story gripped my attention. The chemistry between Shale and Daniel was perfect; they respected each other with intensity and worked together as a team. The element of time travel was spot on; the author ensured that the characters, the dialogues even the environment were time appropriate. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the novel! A really entertaining coming-of-age story. 

~Melinda Hills, Readers' Favorite



Tuesday, August 23, 2011

LORILYN ROBERTS BOOK REVIEW: “Midheaven,” by Ken Kuhlken






As a Christian, I found Midheaven a fascinating read. The protagonist is a 17-year-old girl, Jodi, in her senior year of high school on the threshold of adulthood.  The story begins with her hiding in a cabin in the Toiyabe National Forest, barely surviving on cans of food brought to her by her longtime friend, Charley.

Her life is miserable, like a beastly animal, rather than the beautiful young lady attending Mount Rose High School the year prior.

Little by little, the reader is introduced to the people in her life: Her dysfunctional parents; Mr. Oswald, her favorite teacher; Charley, her friend but not “boyfriend”; Maggie, her best friend, who marries Geoff, a Christian “freak”; and other, less important characters in the plot but important in the development of the theme of the book.

The characters represent a type or archetype worldview that is flavored with a distorted understanding of Christianity. Each person in his own way has been either enriched or destroyed by the perversion of his beliefs that justifies his sinful actions.

We have all seen these “types” in our own life: The holier-than-thou Christian who judges and beats you over the head with the truth; the woman, as in the case of Mr. Oswald’s mother, who is the epitome of a Jezebel; Mr. Oswald, who will never accept Christianity because of his mother’s influence; and Charley, who doesn’t profess to be a Christian, but who is more a “Christian” than most; and Jodi, who longs to be loved and accepted. To gain that love, she compromises her virginity with a jock at school, who later taunts and bullies her.

Underlying the main plot are multiple subplots—each person struggling with his own sin, making poor choices, and hurting others in the process. The one thing that seems to be missing in everyone’s life is “love,” except for the forbidden love that arises between Jodi and Mr. Oswald.

When Jodi is shown a video of herself secretly taped by someone making love to Mr. Oswald, her world begins to unravel. She becomes shamed by her actions and conflicted in her newfound faith, knowing what she is doing is wrong, but unable to conquer her guilt or feel God’s forgiveness.

Mr. Oswald is a coward, and it’s his cowardice that destroys him—without God’s love, we will do cowardly things that ultimately hurt ourselves and others, shattering lives and dooming us to death.

The long-planned escape to Paris to live “happily ever after” never happens, and Jodi becomes a victim of everyone’s expectations for her, living in her own self-imposed solitary confinement.

But there is hope: She kills the charlatan who attempts to destroy her; she sees God’s beauty in the animals of the forest, in the trees and the flowers and the lake that bring her comfort and peace. And Charley is there, the always faithful friend and not her lover.  She asks herself, “Every day I wonder – what kind of man will sacrifice to help me please a God he doesn’t yet believe in?”

Jodi sees the berries in the forest, “still tiny and green.”  A dog attacks her that she fights off, and she discovers beneath his snarly teeth a scared creature, “whimpering and cowering.” She loves the unlovable and cleans the trash from the meadow.  The reader is left with hope for Jodi, and to ponder what it all means.

 ******

Ken Kuhlken earned BA and MA degrees in English at San Diego State University and an MFA degree in Fiction Writing at the University of Iowa. He is the author of novels, short stories, feature stories, and book reviews. His stories have been honored with Pushcart Prize nominations, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature fellowship, as a finalist for PENs Ernest Hemingway Award for the best first published novel, as a finalist for the Shamus best novel award, and as the recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin’s Press Best First PI Novel Award. He has taught in the MFA program at the University of Arizona and in graduate and undergraduate programs at San Diego State University; California State University, Chico; University of San Diego; Christian Heritage College; and Azusa Pacific University. Ken teaches writing and literature at Perelandra College. Visit Ken at: www.kenkuhlken.net