I know it’s been a LONG time since my last post. I’ve been a busy little bee and not much in a blogger mode. I did want to share something special with you though. As some of you may know I’ve been working on an electronic magazine called Flagship for a new publishing company called Flying Island Press I’ve helped launch alongside Zach Ricks, Jeff Hite, Philip Carroll, and J-P Losier. We had our launch date yesterday and it was AWESOME.

I know there are some of you out there that might not want to buy something sight unseen and I respect that. As a result, we’re giving away one story in both audio and e-pub format. If you buy the magazine, you’ll get this story and five more for $1.99 for just the audio or text versions or $2.99 for both. I think that’s an outstanding deal.

The story we chose was “Inciting Incident” by Blake M. Petit. Choosing was hard, but we felt his story was indicative of the tone and quality we were shooting for. We at Flying Island Press hope you enjoy them!

E-pub Version
Audio Version

Celebrating Freedom is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Finished Archangel Trailer is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Archangel Video Trailer is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Labels is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Cover Art is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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It Is Coming is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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The Month of November is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Drive-By is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Character Casting is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Archangel Episode 5 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Archangel Episode 2 – Repost is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Archangel Episode 1 – Repost is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Archangel Episode 3 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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What if, instead of pardoning people at the end of his term, the President had the power to raise people from the dead? It would have to be limited, of course, else he’d be required by popular demand to raise everyone who’s died in whatever military conflict he’s brought about, and pretty much anyone else who had died. It may be limited to someone who had died on US soil, or only American citizens, or… there are many options.
Then of course we have to ask if it’s like the Monkey’s Paw, that they come back exactly how they died? “Gee, thanks Mr. President, that kidney cancer felt SO GOOD I’m glad to get back to it.”
What would life be like if the President of the US was granted the powers of a necromancer?

Here’s my entry. Let me know what you think!

Good Writing Prompt is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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If you want to subscribe to my podcast in your favorite podcatcher just use this url http://www.spiritualtramp.com/index.xml. I haven’t submitted to iTunes yet because I need to figure out how to get MT to pass the right data to iTunes. When I get that up and running I’ll let y’all know.

If anyone in the audience knows how to get MT to cooperate let me know.

Archangel – Progress is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Archangel Episode 2 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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I’m curious to see what the market is for shareware shorts (or, at least, my shareware shorts). Basically, I think it’s an interesting experiment. Also, I think it’s a fun, fast story, one that folks will enjoy reading — i.e., if any science fiction story could make a go at converting readers into buyers, it’s this one. And finally, today I just paid a plumber lots of money to fix the pipes coming into my bathtub, and for a new faucet. I could use the cash.

As far as the money goes? Again here’s John.

Half of the money you send (after PayPal/Amazon fees are subtracted) will be donated to The Lupus Foundation of America, a favorite charity of Subterranean Press publisher Bill Schafer (who has graciously given me permission to use Subterranean’s beautifully designed and typseset version of the story). The other half goes to me, because it’s nice to get paid.

Certainly a worthwhile cause. You can get the details here.

A Shareware Short Story: “How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story” is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Referenced in this podcast:

7th Son
The Rookie
Billibub Battings
The Heaven Series
The Metamor City Podcast

Music in this episode from ADRAW
Thanks to the Free Sound Project for the gunshot.

Hope you enjoy!

Archangel Episode 1 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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The Cage pt 5 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Christian Speculative Fiction Podcast is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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This post was inspired by the above cartoon I found at Wordsell. They’re sponsoring a little contest and so I might win a Nano. I might not, but anything that serves as inspiration for a post is a good thing.

So anyway, it got me to thinking about how we as Christians market our message. There seem to be two major means these days as far as the written word is concerned. The first would be the ubiquitous Christian tee. You know the kind I’m talking about, that say things like “Property of Jesus” or the ones that rip off a popular logo. They usually have some sort of scripture verse attached and occasionally that verse might even have something to do with the logo/slogan being put forth. There was a time in my life when little other casual wear existed in my closet. I thought to myself, “Now this, this right here is evangelism!” I honestly thought that someone would see my “Not Without Jesus” tee and immediately fall to their knees in repentance, or something like that. Surprisingly it never worked that way.

The other thing I’m seeing everywhere is the Church Sign. You know what I’m talking about. There have been a hoard of memes thanks to sites that let you create your own. In case you don’t though, in place of the typical Name of Church followed by the times of worship, you get pithy sayings like “Give God what’s right–, not what’s left!” or the ever popular “Make your eternal reservations now— ‘smoking’ or ‘non-smoking’?”. If that doesn’t make you want to veer into the parking lot and jump into the pew…

So what am I saying here? Are the signs or tees bad? No. I still have a few of those shirts left and if the sign is pithy enough I could see it drawing me in, of course I’m already a believer. I think what happens in most cases though is that if any thought occurs in the mind of the unbeliever that sees these attempts at distilling down the gospel into bite-sized chunks, it’s rarely a positive one. If you really want to communicate the gospel to your community, I would recommend starting with your actions. When necessary, you should certainly use words. Those words need to be filled with love and wisdom and it may take time to use them to good effect. Sure it’s not as funny, but it is in fact What Jesus Did.

Communicate – When Necessary Use Words is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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The Cage pt 4 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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1. The birthday trip we took this week to Pilot Mountain. (My wife’s b-day)
2. Why I am a Democrat Pt. 2
3. More entries in the ongoing story I’m calling The Cage

See you round!

Politics, mountains, and writing… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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The Cage pt 3 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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The Cage pt 2 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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The Cage is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Best of ’07 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Fast Payday Loans

ht to Casey

RIF is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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I am a Christian.
I think abortion is wrong. I believe that homosexuality is a sin according to how the Bible defines it. I don’t think that our planet and the human race came into being the way that science currently teaches. Which political party do I belong to?
If you said Republican you’re wrong. I’m proud to be a registered Democrat. It pisses me off that the Republican Party has co-opted my faith and tells people in effect that if you aren’t with them then you are anti-God. I think the war in Iraq is unjust. A woman should have the right to choose to have an abortion. Religious icons such as the Ten Commandments don’t belong on the grounds of a municipal building. If I told you that I held these beliefs up front then perhaps you would have guessed correctly in regards to my political affiliation, but you might have called my religion into question.
I hear from non-religious people that I should keep my religion to myself. My pastor’s mother believed that your religion was like your toothbrush, for your use only and no one else had any business with it. I read about schools removing religious holidays from their calendars (just the names of the holidays mind you and not just the Christian ones). People are closely scrutinizing Judge Alito because they are afraid that his religious beliefs may affect his decisions if he becomes a Supreme Court justice rather than looking at his past decisions and judging him based on that. All of this gets my hackles up.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand where the hatred and mistrust of religion comes from. Humanity has a long history of killing in the name of whatever god happens to be most popular that week. More recently we have Christians, Muslims, and Jews shooting and bombing each other in some sort of misguided holy war. People who call themselves Christians shoot doctors and bomb clinics because they believe that abortion is evil. The KKK believes that they are doing God’s work. Politicians throughout the millennia have used religion to control the masses and when that particular religion stops working for them, they change it. I know why some want to discard religion wholesale, because of the idea that religion somehow hinders society, but it doesn’t have to.
The main reason that “liberals” want Christians to keep to themselves is that they’re tired of us shoving our particular brand of morality down their throats. That is one major area where I believe Christians have failed. Jesus didn’t call us to do that. If anything he stood up to the conservative religious leaders of his day and said that they were so busy worrying about how they looked that they forgot about justice and mercy. He called them whitewashed tombs, serpents, and blind men. That same thing is happening today with the Religious Right. They build monuments to our religion or wear the symbols of it as some sort of badge of honor. They look down from their high horse judging those that are different. That’s not the message that Christ brought. Christians need to love and help people, not tell them how wrong or immoral they are.
To the Christian Right I say, stop screwing it up for the rest of us. God didn’t appoint you to your post. You were duly elected by the people of these United States. That means that you have an obligation to serve them — all of them. If you feel that you must make your faith a part of your job, then go ahead. Here’s what that means. It means making sure that the poor people have more than just enough to get by. It means loving your neighbors no matter who they sleep with, what they wear, or what god they do or don’t believe in. It means not screwing up this beautiful planet that God gave us. It means letting people use the brains they have to create the art they want and to make the important discoveries no matter how much those creations or discoveries may bother you. Making that faith a part of your job does not give us the right to indoctrinate other people’s children. You can’t just blow up anyone or anything you feel runs contrary to what you think God would want. You can’t lie, cheat, or steal even if you think the ends might justify it. God hates lies, cheating, and stealing as much if not more than he hates anything else, especially of you do it in His name. I’m not asking you to sacrifice your sense of right and wrong or even to keep it to yourself, but to moderate it and seek a common ground.
To my liberal Christian brethren (and I know you’re out there) don’t be afraid to let people know you believe in God. Do make it clear what that means to you. Educate the masses about the love that Christ had for the poor, downtrodden, and unpopular folk. Let them know that that is the reason you are doing what you are doing. And make certain that you are looking at the big picture. It has been very easy for the Right to come in and co-opt matters of faith and morality. Don’t lose sight of those things in your search for tolerance and vice versa. The admonitions that I gave to the Right can also apply to us. We can’t let the ends that we pursue justify the means that we use. I see so much shit slinging on both sides when it comes down to election time. The two extremes are so busy attacking one another that we get nothing accomplished. We need to set aside our differences (keeping them in sight) and work together for the common good of our nation. If you are a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Atheist or whatever, you should be proud and embrace that. No matter what position you have in society you should not be afraid to let people know who and what you are.
Looking back it is clear that many of the men and women that formed this great nation held some deep religious convictions. Not all of them were Christians, but I think that most of them believed in a higher power. And whatever these men and women believed and however many disagreements, arguments, or fights they may have had they carved this nation out together. They wanted everyone in this new country to be able to worship as they felt led. Tolerance was the order of the day. No one was asked to set aside their beliefs, instead they tried to take the best of what they believed and use that as the bricks and mortar of the Constitution.
We should do no less.

Bridging The God Gap is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Progress Is Progress is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Sucking hard… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Chapter 1 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Happy Halloween!! is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a ‘party line’. Orthodoxy, of whatever colour, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestos, White papers and the speeches of undersecretaries do, of course, vary from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, homemade turn of speech. When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases — bestial, atrocities, iron heel, bloodstained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder — one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches the speaker’s spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance toward turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved, as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of what he is saying, as one is when one utters the responses in church. And this reduced state of consciousness, if not indispensable, is at any rate favourable to political conformity.

It’s amazing and perhaps a bit saddening that these words are as meaningful to me today, watching politicians spend all night speaking and managing to say nothing, as they where all those decades ago. I don’t usually wax political in this forum, but I thought that these words were worthy to consider deeply, not only for me as a writer, but for anyone who is listening to what our “leaders” are saying.
Anyway, back to the list. One is difficult for me when writing anything, particularly fiction. Cliches seem to leap from my lips and pen unbidden. I’ve been working on number four for quite some time and I’m beginning to think that I have it licked. Of course as soon as you have that thought you know you’re in trouble. So what about you?

Rules For Good Writing is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Writing… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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500 Words is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Christian Fiction Podcast is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Flash Fiction Contest is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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“All systems look green down here.” The voice came from above her head.
Static crackled briefly as Jan activated her throat mike. “Thanks control, awaiting countdown to initialize main drive.” She looked out a small porthole, dark brown eyes taking in the broad expanse of stars. Her long fingers danced over the complicated series of controls. Two hundred years ago her simian ancestors had been used in much the same way she was, but the new technology required a bit more than a chimpanzee’s intelligence. As expensive as she had been to gengineer, sending her was better in her masters’ minds than sending up a human and in most ways also better than using an AI.
She listened attentively to the numbers as they approached zero. No one was really certain what to expect. Sure the men downstairs had done their experiments, but ripping a hole in space/time was still a new thing. Her ship, it didn’t have a name though she thought of it as Quentin after her trainer, a silvery needle, hung in space. Green crosshairs indicated the nothingness she was aiming for. At minus five the nothing became a scintillation. By zero it was more visible and she brought the Schrödinger engine online. Beams shot out of it and focused on the damaged bit of reality. At the same time Quentin moved towards it.
At plus five seconds she went through.
Jan stood in the middle of a green expanse, a bruised purple sky above. She wore no clothes, but without the capacity for shame that didn’t bother her. Her focus was on the creature wielding a lance of plasma that hovered nearby. Any fear she had was banished by its words, an echo in her brain.
At plus six Quentin re-entered the blackness of space, empty.

Flash Fiction is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Flash Fiction Contest is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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It is finished… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Finish Line… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Home Stretch is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Newest Chapter is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Halfway home!! is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Twenty-Thousand Words is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Progress… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Writing… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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It’s up!! is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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It starts tomorrow… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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NaNoWriMo is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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He pulled over onto the shoulder and into the tall grass. Traction was better on the asphalt, but he’d seen one too many videos where a car had been totaled by a passing semi. He cut the engine off, but let his hazards keep up the staccato rhythm. They shouldn’t drain the battery to bad. The last radio station he picked up clearly that still spoke in a language he could understand said that the storms should pass by quickly. Before he turned off the wipers he looked out at the vast plain of green that surrounded him on three sides as far as he could see. There were no fences, animals, buildings, nothing but grass.
For a boy that had grown up in big cities all over the world it was more than a bit disturbing. He expected Rod Serling to step out any minute. When that didn’t happen he made the sacrifice allowing wiper noise and engine hum to surrender to the drumming. The weariness of driving non stop for better tan twelve hours quickly caught up with Alex and he slept.
How long that sleep lasted he wasn’t sure. When he awoke with a jolt it was pitch black and completely silent. A sudden attack of claustrophobia overcame him and he felt around like a blind man, frantically trying to get out of his tomb. His right hand hit the door latch, letting in cool night air. Gradually the darkness was replaced with the dim light of stars as his eyes adjusted. He spent several minutes just breathing deeply and trying to get his heart rate down. It was then he realized that the dome light in his car hadn’t come on.
Keeping his cool he swiveled back to driving position and tried the key. The engine didn’t even try to turn over. He slapped the wheel lightly. “Well isn’t that just a peach.” A quick check of his cell showed no signal, so no AAA would be forthcoming. The idea of sleep seemed as distant as the next gas station. Judging by the time on his phone’s display, he’d been out for at least six hours. He’d never been one to sit still. “Looks like I’ll be taking a little walk.”
He checked the glove box retrieving the thirty-eight he kept there. Dad had insisted that he buy it and learn to use it after the first time he was mugged. Alex never carried it in the city. That was just asking for trouble. But he surprised himself and his instructor at the shooting range. He was pretty good and with practice managed to win a few amateur competitions.
Bringing it on this trip had been a largely unconscious decision. Now he was glad he did. Its speed draw rig went on his left hip and three speed loaders went into his fanny pack. A couple of water bottles and energy bars from the little cooler behind his seat joined them. It could be hours before he was picked up or found a house. Be Prepared echoed from his distant boyhood memories bringing with it a smile.
He cut out from the driver’s side walking perpendicular to his derelict. He hadn’t pulled off that far, but he couldn’t see the road given the dark and the waist high grass. That stopped him. “The grass wasn’t nearly this tall.” He shook his head. “I’ll go fifty more steps.” They counted off slowly, in an effort to stay on a true course. When no road met his eyes or steps he stopped. “Okay, I know I wasn’t that far off the road.”
He turned and saw that the grass had closed behind him. For a minute he panicked because he couldn’t see his car. Then a glint snared his eye. In a moment the cool metal of his Honda lay under his hand. Feeling more than a little silly he climbed onto the trunk. “Nothing. Not a blessed thing.” Dancing in the evening breeze were millions of blades and no blacktop to be seen. He held on to the hope that the dim starlight limited his vision. In a few hours it would be morning and that would tell him for sure.

Untitled Short Story… is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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I got a lot of GREAT feedback. Keep it up and I hope you enjoy.

Music in this episode from ADRAW

Archangel Episode 2 is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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What if, instead of pardoning people at the end of his term, the President had the power to raise people from the dead? It would have to be limited, of course, else he’d be required by popular demand to raise everyone who’s died in whatever military conflict he’s brought about, and pretty much anyone else who had died. It may be limited to someone who had died on US soil, or only American citizens, or… there are many options.
Then of course we have to ask if it’s like the Monkey’s Paw, that they come back exactly how they died? “Gee, thanks Mr. President, that kidney cancer felt SO GOOD I’m glad to get back to it.”
What would life be like if the President of the US was granted the powers of a necromancer?

Here’s my entry. Let me know what you think!

Good Writing Prompt is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Lee Barrett

Hair Colour: Sandy Blond – Currently shaggy and a little curly
Eye Colour: Lt. Brown
Age: 32
Height:5’9″
Weight: 150
Other Physical Description: Lee Barrett has a wiry build and most often sports a patchy beard. His “uiniform” consists of black combat boots, dark blue jeans, plain white tee shirts, and his fatigue jacket with patches from his tours of duty and his chaplain insignia. His Bible, harmonica, walking stick, and survival knife are never far from his person. He doesn’t wear any jewelry. He has a tattoo of a triquetra superimposed on an American flag on his left shoulder.

Character Casting is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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They gave me some pointers on how to make this here blog mo’ betta. For the most part it strikes me as great advice. I shall no doubt be taking it, since I did ask. I don’t know how to feel about some of it, like trimming down my blogroll. I do need to do some maintenance, but I read all of these on a regulr basis. Maybe I’ll move them to a links page? Let me know what you think of any of their advice. You read this so your opinions count and if I can take their tough love I can take yours.

If you’d like to have someone really take a hard look at your site, sign up. If you need someone to write something for you, hire them. If you want good writing advice read their stuff.

Drive-By is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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I was listening to Mr. Kilbride interview Mr. Lowell (both worthy podcasts to subscribe to btw) and he said that for every minute he spends doing anything else is a minute that he’s not providing content. That’s a very good point. I brain dump a fair number of words/time here (in spite of what you might think) and on Twitter and on Facebook and on email and not on writing.

I mean I enjoy blogging and tweeting and emailing and facebooking, but I need to write fiction. I need to get ahead of myself and know that I’ve got words in the bank. I’m not asking permission or anything, since hey it’s my blog and everything and I’m not saying I’m going to do this but it seems like a good idea and rather than just decide I’m going to do it I need to think about it. Feedback is appreciated.

The Month of November is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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As a cover art mockup for my NaNo novella Red Sky. I am truly not worthy and can only HOPE that my novel lives up to the cover. I love this man (in spite of his political leanings).

Thanks to JanesDead for the pic.

Cover Art is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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He says that because that has come to mean something radically different to half of the country he has shed the label from his current work. This is timely to me since I am trying to start a podcast of short fiction that could easily fall under my definition of Evangelical Christian Fiction (or perhaps just Christian Fiction). The feedback I got from folks on Twitter was overwhelmingly negative regarding that label. This was a mix of Christians and non-Christians. As such I too have elected not to use that label.

The problem becomes, how does one solicit and publish fiction that is Christian in the sense that it deals with issues of Christian faith and likely will be entirely written by Christian authors (why a non-Christian would want to write in this vein I don’t know, but it’s not inconceivable). I mean I suppose that term could be used “in house” and the name of the podcast and the content therein would be the best clue to those outside. That’s certainly one very good option.

Another thought is that I don’t label my own fiction in that fashion though most of it does fall under that category so why should I worry about this other project and labeling it? Answer? I shouldn’t I guess. It’s still not settled in my mind, especially given that one day I hope Archangel will be sold in secular and Christian bookstores. I suppose how its marketed will be somewhat out of my hands. And just like The Shack it could be literally labeled by the stores it sits in.

So much like Mr. Dekker I would ask what you think. Is the label necessary/meaningful. Should Christians label their art as Christian or just let the content speak? Should there even be Christian bookstores as such? At what point does the label become so changed that it’s useless?

Labels is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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This is a test trailer for Archangel. Let me know what you think!

Archangel Video Trailer is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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