To begin our blog tour of the Lost Genre Guild, I thought I'd turn things over to a couple characters who have appeared in "lost genre" type works and are familiar with Frank Creed, who founded LGG. So today's guest hosts are Murray the Alchemist, from the Light at the Edge of Darkness story "At the Mountains of Lunacy," and Rod Davies, or Titan, from League of Superheroes.
Murray the Alchemist: So I guess we have to talk about how Frank founded the Lost Genre Guild. Or found it. Maybe he should find a book on grammar instead.
Rod/Titan: Different words, Murray. Cue the language geek...
Tom Reilly/Darklight: Romance and Germanic roots, yes. You see, "found" is related to "foundation," which--
Rod: ...is more than anyone wanted to know. Thanks for calling. Anyway, Murray, shouldn't you give the link for LGG?
Murray: No, because we've already seen it, so who cares, and why should I tell someone how to find a group that wants to be lost? Besides, if it's Christian fiction, why's it the "Lost" Genre Guild? Shouldn't it be the "Saved" Genre Guild? It makes no sense!
Rod: I think it means "undiscovered" or something--thank you, no language geek interruptions this time!
Murray: Anyway, Frank Creed began the Lost Genre Guild when a sudden inspiration hit him. You can still see the bump if you look hard...
Rod: Wrong bump; that was another inspiration, and I thought we were steering clear of that one.
Murray: What are friends for? Or enemies, whatever. Anyway, Frank looks around and doesn't see much Christian speculative fiction coming out, and suddenly it hits him like ears to the head: people can ignore several individual Christian spec-fic writers, but gather them all in one place, and people can ignore them all at once! Frank's into efficiency.
Rod: I think it's more like getting a bunch of Whos to yell "We are here!" together so they don't get boiled.
Murray: And here I thought it was the other kid who was into Literature! Take it from me: getting everyone together in one place just makes it easier to blow you all to the Moon! Ka-Boom!
Rod: What I wonder about is the statement on the main page: "CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORE SHELVES ARE NEARLY BARREN OF SPEC-FIC." Okay, your bookstore may vary, but CSFF has had lots of Christian spec-fic over the last year. If they aren't on the bookshelves, they're available through online bookstores. Why the drama? I'd like to call in an even greater mind to figure this out.
Murray: Something smarter than you? But my athlete's foot can't go on! It hasn't shaved!
Rod: No, I mean Genie.
Genie: Marketing matters are not within my usual bailiwick, Rod.
Rod: But as a matter of simple logic, what's the deal, here?
Genie: A swift perusal of prior CSFF and CFRB posts indicates that most Christian spec-fic authors are either self-published, published by a small press, or already well-known in some other field. Thus, if Donita K. Paul hadn't started out with romances, she probably wouldn't have been able to publish her Dragonkeeper books. And last month we saw that John Olson had to team up with an established writer to get published. So it's accurate to say that the status quo hinders new writers. The Lost Genre Guild helps new writers get noticed and read, even though it isn't a publisher itself.
Okay, problem solved. Join us tomorrow for a look inside the Lost Genre Guild. I bet we'll encounter a strange man stroking a cat and muttering to himself...
In the meantime, see what the rest of the CSFF has to say on this vital topic:
Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Grace Bridges
Valerie Comer
Courtney
Frank Creed
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Joleen Howell
Jason Isbell
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Lost Genre Guild
Mike Lynch
Magma
Margaret
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
John W. Otte
Crista Richey
Mirtika
Hanna Sandvig
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Phyllis Wheeler
Timothy Wise
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5 comments:
Clever. I hope tomorrow's addition is just as entertaining.
Mike
Lampoon a fun gi's blog tour and he breaks out the bunny-ear pic. That's harsh. Oh, if Greg Slade could see me now.
The irony of LOST genre guild never occured to me . . . sweet mother of squirrel.
'Appy New Year, Ansric!
Faith,
f
thefinishers.biz
Murray brought up one idea I have had myself, but I stifled it--seems like a Christian group wouldn't be lost.
Love those links. Reminds me of how Genie found another dimension to stuff stuff in when there wasn't room in the three D world we ar aware of.
Funny, funny stuff, Steve. I especially liked the Saved Genre and the "people can ignore them all at once" lines. You have an amazing wit, my friend.
Becky
Fun stuff, Steve. Keep 'em coming.
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