Freelance Editing Launch Week!

Launch Week hit my editorial website last Sunday and God's blowing the trumpets of celebration. A tiny budded flower emerges from my inner shadows, blooming for the first time into the light of purpose. I've never felt this way before. I've dived into a world filled with my greatest passions: writing and editing. Who thought I'd actually have the opportunity to do this full-time? I never did.

So, in celebration and to spread the word, I'm posting my Launch Week announcement and special on this blog and my book review blog. You may not be a writer, but you may know one. You may not even enjoy writing, but you're witnessing a hopeful writer entering into a dream. I can't believe God picked me.

The Announcement:

It's Launch Week at last!

This means you can get a substantive edit for a $150 flat fee if your manuscript is 80,000 words or less and for $200 if it's between 80,000 and 120,000 words.

This is a HUGE bargain, both in the freelance editing world and on my personal site. After this week, my prices will settle to 0.0035/wd (ex. 80,000 wd manuscript = $280). Please see my Editorial Services page for more details on what your edit will entail.

Important to Know:

• The Launch Week Special begins Sunday, March 17th and goes through Saturday, March 23rd.
• Your manuscript must be fiction (thumbs-up if it's speculative...my favorite!). I do not edit non-fiction or poetry.
• Priority is given on a first-pay, first-serve basis
• I accept Paypal to this email address - nadine.r.shea@gmail.com (this is not a contact e-mail!).
• If you don't have your manuscript quite ready, go ahead and schedule it with me to get your discount. I'm happy to help you and happy to wait! If you need a critique ASAP, please mark your payment as such.

Please understand that, though I will be as speedy (and thorough) as possible, depending on your place in line, it may take several weeks for you to receive your edited manuscript. You may schedule your edit anytime between now and August 31st.

Contact:

If you are interested in the Launch Week Special, please e-mail me with your name and "Launch Week" in the subject line. In the body of the e-mail, please include:

• Your name
• The genre and current length of your manuscript
• The intended age group of your manuscript
• A small description of your manuscript
• Whether or not you consider your manuscript "Christian"
• Any questions about my services
• How you heard about this special

Please share this special with fellow writers so they may all have an opportunity to take advantage of this special. Thank you!



Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, releases 2014 from Marcher Lord Press, the premier publisher of Christian speculative fiction. When Nadine's not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband. You can find out more about Nadine and her books at http://nadinebrandes.com.

Black, by Ted Dekker

Disclaimer: All reviews are the result of my personal opinion from a Christian stand-point. These reviews are provided for those who share my beliefs and morals, to help guide what fiction a reader may wish to pick up. For those who do not share these beliefs, please refrain from hateful comments. It is due to rude commenting that I must now include this note prior to all reviews. For more information, visit my purpose behind this blog. Thank you for your understanding.

Mini-Summary:
Intended Age-Group: adult
Issues of Violence: fantasy violence, "gun" fights, knife violence, assassination, kidnapping
Intimacy Level: kissing, emotional connections
Swearing: none
Recommendation: 4 out of 5 stars

Back-Cover Blurb:

Fleeing assailants through deserted alleyways, Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes to the roof of a building. Then a silent bullet from the night clips his head . . . and his world goes black.

From the blackness comes an amazing reality of another world where evil is contained. A world where Thomas Hunter is in love with a beautiful woman.

But then he remembers the dream of being chased through an alleyway as he reaches to touch the blood on his head. Where does the dream end and reality begin?

Every time he falls asleep in one world, he awakes in the other. Yet in both, catastrophic disaster awaits him . . . may even be caused by him.

Some say the world hangs in the balance of every choice we make. Now the fate of two worlds hangs in the balance of one man's choices

Initial Reaction: *****
Black,  by Ted Dekker, is the first book of the Circle Trilogy. I included the back cover blurb because I can't possibly know where to start summarizing. It's a wonderful blend of fantasy and apocalyptic world politics. Try that on for size.

Ted Dekker is a Christian speculative fiction author for adults. Some of his writing is a little too intense for me, but not this series. It's intense, just not too intense. In one reality, Tom Hunter is trying to stop the spread of a world-obliterating virus. He doesn't believe in God or anything spiritual for that matter. In the other reality (The Colored Forest), he discovers a land where God's presence is visible everywhere, encouraging romance and creativity.

I was affected most by the "Colored Forest" side of Tom's reality--the one with physical presence of good and evil and a daily Gathering to delight in God. Some of the interactions of the people with God unnerved me. It bordered on 'weird', but that's because all the people in the Colored Forest fully engaged in God. Unmarred by evil, they delved into vulnerability and expressed themselves through song, dance, tears, etc.

Spiritual Content: *****

When Thomas Hunter enters The Colored Forest , it's thick with spiritual significance. It's similar to a futuristic garden of Eden focused around The Great Romance. The topic of romance, both between us and God and us and each other strikes chords of truth and beauty inside me. 

When Rachelle first sees Tom, she goes through an internal thought process of wanting to "choose" him as her man. There's a small paragraph of her thoughts that strongly captivated the shalom (the way God intended things to be) behind romance:

"Was he a good man? Of course. ALL men were good. Would he pursue her? What man would not romance a woman who has invited him? What what woman would not romance a man who had chosen her? It was the nature of the Great Romance. They all knew it. Thrived on it." (pg. 36)

People choose each other by bringing "wholeness". Such a neat picture of marriage and relationship.

The highlights for me in Black were the imagination and spiritual undertones. I'm growing more and more in love with good Christian speculative fiction novels because I feel like I'm growing spiritually while I'm adventuring. 

Characters: *****

The characters had a lot of adventure and growing, but I didn't feel like they reached a truly human depth. I couldn't see specific character flaws or internal struggles except for the time when the devil is literally sweet-talking a character.

Dislikes:

My only negatives come from my own reading preferences. The writing switches points-of-view to new characters throughout the book in order to fill in the reader enough. It was a little disorienting and I felt like the POVs were just snowballing. I wanted to stay in Tom's head, or at least Tom's and one or two other heads.

Overall Recommendation:
This book is action and discovery driven. I still enjoyed the different depths it brought to my thinking. And, even though it's addressing the end of the world, I found the writing incessantly funny. 

The ending is a definite cliff-hanger that doesn't conclude much, but sets the scene for a thick sequel (Red, in case you're wondering).

I definitely recommend this book to adults and maybe even older teens. It encourages deeper thinking and questions about life. It introduces the very personal side of God through His interaction with His people. And it stretches your brain cells.

Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, released September 2014 from Enclave Publishing. When Nadine's not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband. You can find out more about Nadine and her books at http://nadinebrandes.com.

Replication: The Jason Experiment, by Jill Williamson

Disclaimer: All reviews are the result of my personal opinion from a Christian stand-point. These reviews are provided for those who share my beliefs and morals, to help guide what fiction a reader may wish to pick up. For those who do not share these beliefs, please refrain from hateful comments. It is due to rude commenting that I must now include this note prior to all reviews. For more information, visit my purpose behind this blog. Thank you for your understanding.

Mini-Summary:
Intended Age-Group: recommend 13+
Issues of Violence:  fist-fights, action violence, topic of suicide, scientific experimentation
Intimacy Level: kissing, emotional connections
Swearing: none
Recommendation: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Picking up a book by a favorite author in a different genre has its risks. Since I can only read Jill Williamson's Blood of Kings trilogy so many times (I may or may not be reading it again right now...*guilty face*), I eventually had to move on to her semi-recent release, Replication.

Blurb:
What if everything you knew was a lie? Martyr---otherwise known as Jason 3:3---is one of hundreds of clones kept in a remote facility called Jason Farms. Told that he has been created to save humanity, Martyr has just one wish before he is scheduled to 'expire' in less than a month. To see the sky. Abby Goyer may have just moved to Alaska, but she has a feeling something strange is going on at the farm where her father works. But even this smart, confident girl could never have imagined what lies beneath a simple barn. Or what would happen when a mysterious boy shows up at her door, asking about the stars. As the reality of the Jason Experiment comes to light, Martyr is caught between two futures---the one for which he was produced and the one Abby believes God created him to have. Time is running out, and Martyr must decide if a life with Abby is worth leaving everything he's ever known.
  
Initial Reaction: *****
When I read the back of the book, it intrigued me, but didn't quite make me salivate. It's considered science-fiction and I'm always a little wary with that genre (I'm more of a fantasy fan). When I finally started the book, I devoured it the next day.

The first pleasant surprise was the terrific characters. I laughed out loud multiple times (read this in seclusion if you're uncomfortable with other people hearing you, because you really can't avoid it) and couldn't help but be a nerd and read chunks  aloud to my husband. He laughed out of courtesy since he couldn't laugh from context.

Characters: *****

Abby Goyer is a spunky redhead with a strong likeable personality who cares about her dad with the usual teen frustration of poor communication. Suffering from the recent death of her mother and a surprise move to Alaska, Abby steps into a new small-town high school mid-junior year and meets JD -- the jock with a brain. Their interactions are hilarious. I looked forward to every encounter solely for the fact I knew I'd be laughing at some point and admiring Abby's (or should I say Jill's) sense of humor.

Martyr is one experiment in a lab of fifty-five identical Jason clones. His only wish is to see the sky before his expiration date in a couple weeks. A new doctor arrives and makes it possible for Martyr's wish to be granted. The lab-constrained, systematic life meant for Martyr is completely altered when he starts questioning his purpose in life.

Plot: *****
The plot is thick with tension as Abby's and Martyr's worlds collide. What I love most is how believable and realistic the story is. If someone really did have a lab of human clones, how would an outsider react? How would the lab be conducted? How would police react? Jill hit the speculative nail on the head.

I repeat: believable, which means I was sucked in like the victim of a black hole. 

Something Jill Williamson does with her books is to include a discussion guide at the end. This makes it a great read for family or to children (especially as class reading) because it has intentional messages to discuss. 

Mature Content:

The romance in this book remains at a very tentative teen level. Abby is the object of two boy's affection: one is forceful and actually forces Abby to kiss him at one point. The other is gentle and sweet and she kisses him first. The differences between affection are nice to see to help other young readers see what is an unhealthy attraction (JD Kane) and what is closer to healthy and right (albiet, very very new) with Martyr.

There's another story told by a character about a woman who was "broken until she died" by a mob of the clone boys who wanted to touch her. Though the conclusion is never blatantly stated, it sounds a lot like rape. It's very sad, but makes sense with the story and the group of psychologically and physically abused by the lab.

Lastly is some fist-fighting, gun-shooting, and attempted suicide. The story deals with action-violence in a very realistic way, touching on the issues teens today often face. Yes, suicide and fist-fights are some of them.

Spiritual Content: *****

The Christian themes in the book are strong and well-explained. Abby has a growing faith in God. Martyr has never heard of God. I love how Abby tackles his tough questions with her own hesitancy. I also love how the questions from other non-believing characters don't beat around the bush. They ask the hard questions, too. They point out what seem like obvious flaws. Jill Williamson doesn't spoon feed Christianity like it's vanilla ice cream. The fact is, relationship with Jesus is intricate, and this book captures that without trying to answer every question.

Other issues addressed have to do with ethics. Abby's stance and view on stem-cell research is stated clearly and strongly throughout the book, partially from an ethics level and partially from a personal belief level. I like how integrated the ethics are in a story-like manner, especially from a high-schooler's point of view.

Overall Recommendation:

I definitely recommend this book. Some people recommend it only to Christian teens or Christian readers, but I believe it's a great read for anyone and everyone. But it's not just a good read from a Christian standpoint, it's also a fabulous book with deep characters, a catching sci-fi plot line, and action, action, action! I love Jill Williamson's writing.

Enjoy! I'd like to hear your thoughts if you read this book.

Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, released September 2014 from Enclave Publishing. When Nadine's not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband. You can find out more about Nadine and her books at http://nadinebrandes.com.