The first Christian fantasy book I read as an adult was Oneprince. It was a very gripping tale, with a young prince thrust into the kingship and trying to save his kingdom from darkness. It had talking animals, an amazing escape, and the search for an unlikely ally. Unfortunately, I didn't get to read the ending!!! Apparently it was meant to be a two or three part story, but it must not have sold enough to justify continuing. So the lousy publisher let people hang out there with a serious cliff-hanger. Boy, it was a good ending. I waited and waited for the next book, seemingly in vain...
The good news is, from the looks of things the version on Amazon has is the "full edition". I hope to get it some time and finish the adventure I started back in the early 90's. Has anyone read the full version? I'd like to hear from you if you have!
Looks like we have a couple of new additions to the tour:
The Jerkrenak's Den (of course!)
Jim Black
I can't believe I didn't highlight Becky Miller's blog (although I did link there)
Becky Miller's A Christian Worldview of Fiction
Megawriter
LaShaunda's See You on the Net
Tomorrow I will look at a prolific writer in the fantasy genre.
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Great posts, Jason. This is lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I never heard of the series before.
You reminded me, though, of Gideon's Dawn. Not the publisher's fault with that one, but we are still left hanging.
I'm a closure person--like to see things finished off--so that is a sure way to torture me!
Becky
Oooh, that was a fun story, wasn't it? I think I still have my copy somewhere.
ReplyDeleteLike you, though, I haven't read the last part, and wanted to. :-)
I loved THE ONEPRINCE when I was younger, and I did read the full version that Bill Hand finally released. You won't be disappointed!
ReplyDeleteBut another tragedy! Hand DID publish a sequel to THE ONEPRINCE (the title is something like THE DRAGON CHILD), but only a few copies made it out before the publisher went belly-up. I still haven't been able to get my hands on that one.
Actually, The Oneprince was first released by Thomas Nelson (I think). It was such a long story (and it did have a "natural break" in about the middle), the publisher split it into two books. Unfortunately the editor working with Bill Hand (the author), died of a brain tumor and because of "office politics" Thomas Nelson refused to follow through and publish the second novel (the last half of the "Oneprince" story). Bill had to wait until he was finally able to reaquire the rights to his novel before he was able to have it re-published; this time as a complete story in a single, complete printed book.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you can find it available at Amazon.com or other booksellers, however it's no longer in print.
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ReplyDeleteThe most obvious difference between the FULL & COMPLETE novel & the half-story version is in the cover. The "split" version has a full color cover with painted images taken from people and places found in the novel. The COMPLETE version of the book (the one that contains BOTH halfs of the story) doesn't have a full color cover and has NO painted artwork depicting scenes from the story on the cover and it is also NOT published by Thomas Nelson.
"The Dragon Child: Book Three of the Redaemian Chronicles" is the second PHYSICAL book printed (the third "story", only if you count "The Oneprince" as two separate books as it was first to be released by Thomas Nelson); and it takes place AFTER The events in The Oneprince novel.
They are awesome stories, imho.
I seem to know this Bill Hand fellow... he has re-released "The Oneprince" through Createspace books ($19.99); it is available through Amazon.com. It includes the "full" tale -- both the Thomas Nelson text (though lightly rewritten) and the "Hidden City" segment which TN was originally going to put out as the second volume. The adventures of King Quad and Friend Rat are, of course, amazing to behold.
ReplyDelete"Dragonchild" has a cliff-hanger ending and, as yet, Mr. Hand has not written the rest of that story. He intends to get to that very soon though and is, at this time, trying to decide whether to publish Dragonchild as it stands through Createspace, or to finish the story and publish, again, a larger book.
I know he appreciates all the kind words and support.
--Bill Hand
I've enjoyed reading the full tale of Oneprince, and would very much like a copy of Dragonchild
DeleteI was just searching today trying to find The Dragon Child--it's apparently out there, but there must have only been a tiny handful of copies printed because it seems to be impossible to acquire. Do you or anyone you know have any idea where to buy it? Amazon doesn't have any copies--nor does anywhere else I look, except for Half.com, which has one lone copy at 10x the original cost at least. I can't afford that. :(
ReplyDeleteIf you do come across something, contact me at doranwen AT yahoo (dot) com.
I found a copy of the original 1992 version at a thrift shop recently, and after failing to find the second book, wound up here. It's good to know that there is a complete version out there, I was starting to worry there was not.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the author will overcome the horrendous luck he's had with publishing and the books will one day be more readily available.