Nightmare by Robin Parrish

Nightmare by Robin Parrish, coming Summer 2010.

Very cool cover!

Robin notes on his website that the first draft is almost complete. What is it about? Details are hard to come by, but from what we've been able to pick up, it's a paranormal/supernatural thriller to be published by Bethany House. Here's the blurb from their site:

Pull Back the Veil on the Paranormal with This Chilling Novel

Ghost Town is the hottest amusement park in the country, offering state-of-the-art chills and thrills involving the paranormal. The park's main ride is a haunted mansion that promises an encounter with a real ghost.

When Maia Peters visits during her senior year of college, she's not expecting to be impressed. Maia grew up as the only child of a pair of world-renowned "ghost hunters," so the paranormal is nothing new. In fact, the ride feels pretty boring until the very end. There, a face appears from the mist. The face of Jordin Cole, a girl who disappeared from campus a year ago.

Convinced what she saw wasn't a hoax and desperate to find answers to Jordin's disappearance, Maia launches into a quest for answers. Joined by Jordin's boyfriend - a pastor's kid with very different ideas about the spirit realm - Maia finds herself in a struggle against forces she never expected to confront.

According to Robin's Twitter feed, the book "told me that it wanted to be a 1st person story." It was described early on by Robin as "a wild ride that delves deep into the supernatural." So far, it's caught my interest.

You can catch more from Robin on Facebook or Twitter.

CSFF OFFWORLD Tour Day 3

Third and final day of a blog tour featuring Robin Parrish's newest novel, Offworld (you can see the book trailer at youtube).

Robin Parrish had two great ambitions in his life: to have a family, and to be a published novelist. In March of 2005, he proposed to his future wife the same week he signed his first book contract with Bethany House Publishers. They contracted him for the rights to not only that first book, Relentless - but the two sequels Fearless and Merciless, a trilogy that unfolded in the consecutive summers of 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Robin Parrish is a journalist who's written about pop culture for more than a decade. Currently he serves as Senior Editor at XZOOSIA.com, a community portal that fuses social networking with magazine-style features about entertainment and culture. He's also an avid fan of "Lost" and blogs about each episode at Approaching LOST. He and his wife, Karen and son live in North Carolina.

Review of Offworld by Robin Parish

Something is wrong with the world.

It's July 4, 2033 and Commander Christopher Burke and his crew have just returned to Earth from the first manned mission to Mars - only to find humanity missing. They've been away for more than two years and now it appears everyone, everywhere, is offworld.

Months prior to their return strange happenings occur around the globe - a T-Rex stomps out of a cave in France and vanishes, Flamingos turn from pink to blue and back again in a Denver zoo, a lake in New Zealand appears then disappears.

Then, humanity vanishes. Burke and his three crew mates are thrust into a new mission: to discover who or what is behind the disappearance of ten billion people.

~*~

This is the premise behind the latest novel by Robin Parrish, also the author of the Dominion Trilogy. Parrish is a competent author - a solid story teller, character developer, and vivid "imagineer." He blends elements of science fiction, superhero action, and fantasy into a contemporary fiction typical of what's currently on the shelves at your local B&N. (Think M. Night Shyamalan meets The X-Files meets The Avengers.) Offworld competes nicely with other titles by name brand authors and I'm betting that with his next novel he will make the jump from the Religious Fiction section (where I found him at my local big box) to the regular shelves (where, btw, Jeffrey Overstreet and Donita K. Paul recently moved).

However, Parrish has a few plotting dangers to watch out for, in my opinion. The first one has to do with the theme itself. People disappearing? Yawn. The idea didn't grab me. I'd read On the Beach (a classic), I avoided Left Out or Get Behind or whatever (not a classic), and I hate dream stories ("and then I woke up"). So I was a bit skeptical going in. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book. I'm happy to report (non-spoiler alert) that the plot has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, the rapture, or cannabis. And although not terribly original nor completely satisfying, the mystery revealed in the somewhat longish denouement at least tied the story together.

Another weakness (again, imo, as I'm sure some readers love this part) is the action sequences. Some parts read like a beat-em-up-smash-em-up car chase that might translate well on film but had me skimming during what was supposed to drive the final climax of the story. When I find myself flipping to the explanation (give me the reveal already!) then that's a sure sign I've lost interest. I'm usually a word by word reader and I measure the quality of the story on how many times I start skimming. Offworld lost me on only two or three occasions, so that translates to pretty good overall.

The author's strength is character driven stories - good people with angst set in compelling situations with enough reality based conflict to give the fantastical elements of the story their appeal. I like spec fic but I like good characters and story telling best. And Parrish delivers. This is a clean, non-religious but spiritually themed novel by a writer who happens to be a Christian rather than a writer trying to spin a 'Christian' novel.

Recommended read if you like this style.
Rated 7 of 10.

This post is day two of the CSFF Blog Tour of Offworld by Robin Parish.

CSFF Blog Tour for OFFWORLD by Robin Parish

Today is the official start of the CSFF Blog Tour for Robin Parish's Offworld. You can also visit RobinParish.com for more details.

I'll post my review tomorrow, but here are some reviews now.

+ Faith & Geekery
+ Should Be Reading
+ Steps
+ The Christian Manifesto
+ interview by Profess
+ da Blog
+ Window to My World
+ Sally Bradley.com
+ Valerie Comer's Little Worlds
+ Timothy Taylor
+ Mimi
+ Then there is my 1, 2, 3-part Q&A with the author about his novel Fearless

And now, here are the CSFF Participant Links for the Offworld Blog Tour:

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Gina Burgess
Canadianladybug
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
John W. Otte
Lyn Perry
Steve Rice
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Stephanie
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Elizabeth Williams

Giving Away Offworld by Robin Parrish

You're Attention Please...

I have two copies of Robin Parrish's new book, Offworld to give away. It's a science fiction novel (Bethany House, 2009) that I've agreed to blog about, and so they sent me a couple copies. One may be yours!

Here's how to win your free book...
1. Leave a comment below with your name and blog.
2. Link to this post in your blog, announcing this contest.
3. Watch for Friday's announcement here to see if you're a winner.


While you wait for contest results...
+ Here's a good review at Faith & Geekery.
+ And here's one from Should Be Reading.
+ There is an earlier review up at Steps.
+ Another review from The Christian Manifesto.
+ And an interview with Robin from Profess.
+ Oh, and here is my 1, 2, 3-part Q&A with the author about his novel Fearless.

Wow, here are some more!
+ da Blog
+ Window to My World
+ Sally Bradley.com
+ Valerie Comer's Little Worlds

I'll keep posting links as I find reviews...
+ From Timothy Taylor
+ From Mimi

Winners Announced. Comments Closed. Congratulations:
1. Angie at Notes From the Writing Chair
2. Eric at Working My Muse