Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The CSFF Greatest Hits - Number 1

What??
Ah, this is it!

The CSFF Tour for August has the loose theme of "favorites." Some bloggers have talked about their all-time favorite books. My take was to go over all the tours I've been a part of and pull out my favorite books and tours. Which books inspired me?

Honorable mention goes to Robin Parrish and his book Fearless. A wildly suspenseful read, and it inspired my most-visited post, "Why Do We Need Heroes?"

BUT...out of over 40 Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tours, the book (and tour) that came out on top..

I give you number
Blaggard's Moon by George Bryan Polivka.


This book is special.

Bryan writes with a descriptive touch that "sets the reader on the high seas feeling the salt air, or ducking the musket balls and choking on the gunpowder." He writes characters that each leap off the page, with individual voices that make them seem real (sometimes too real).

This book was written after his Trophy Chase trilogy of pirate books, but is actually a prequel. It sets up the trilogy in a marvelous way, but stands on its own with a heartfelt tale of revenge, love, and loss.

Make it so, number one
The book has a unique structure, with pirate Smith Delaney waiting for a certain, gruesome death recalling a story told by master pirate storyteller Ham Drumbone. The back and forth between two different storytellers and the story is a little confusing at first, but is well worth the effort.
The book follows pirate king Conch Imbry, pirate hunter Damrick Fellows and mysterious lady Jenta Smithmiller as intrigue, battle, and death weaves throughout. The reader is left guessing how this all ties together, which it does very nicely at the end. Will Damrick succeed in clearing piracy from the waters, or will the wily Conch outwit the determined vigilante? And how does beautiful Jenta affect both men's plans?

That's right! #1!
I have to say that I had fun with the tour as well because I had a special visitor for this blog tour. One of the scurvy scoundrels from the book, Spinner Sleeve, stopped by to, uh, "oversee" what I had to say. Having a pirate at your back and a cutlass at your throat makes for an interesting blogging experience.

For the rest of my posts on Blaggard's Moon and the rest of Polivka's Trophy Chase trilogy, see these posts.

This tour has a lot of interesting posts featuring a variety of speculative fiction. Get the updated list here.

5 comments:

  1. A lot of love for Blaggard's Moon this week, and well-deserved. It's probably my favorite of all the books we've reviewed since I joined the Tour last year.

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  2. It's been interesting to me how many people have mentioned "Blaggard's Moon" on this tour. It was a well-done book that I almost missed out on because I didn't particularly enjoy the Trophy Chase trilogy. But I was quite glad I gave this one a try anyway.

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  3. Great choice for number one! "Blaggard's Moon" is one of the best books I've ever read that falls under the "Christian" label, never mind the best Christian spec fic. It's got my vote for the Clive Staples Award this year. (And to think, I almost didn't help tour it because I didn't think a pirate story would appeal to me.)

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  4. Well what can I say gang? We all have good taste!

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  5. Anonymous12:42 PM

    Yes, I'd have to rank Blaggard's Moon as one of my favorite Christian Speculative novels as well. So well written and such a good story. Wow, I hope there's another Polivka novel coming our way.

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