Ep 96: Author Katherine Briggs on her novel The Eternity Gate

 

Katherine Briggs joins the podcast to discuss her new novel The Eternity Gate

a fantasy novel about a handmaiden named Seyo who has a key that will unlock the fate of her kingdom. Along with discussing the novel, this conversation goes into Katherine's writing process and her thoughts on the pressure that writers face in today's publishing industry.

You can visit her website https://katherinebriggs.com/ to signup for her newsletter and read some of her short stories. Katherine is a friend and also the former teacher of two of my children, so I'm incredibly excited to be part of helping her to release her first book.

Ep 82: Christmas in July & a New Podcast

Episode 82 of the podcast features a talk I gave at Living Waters Church in Peoria, Illinois in 2019 about my book Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas. I spoke about how Pentecostals have their own version of Advent, about the quirky saints days after Christmas day, and about some of the challenges in attempting to celebrate Christmas as an extended holiday rather than one day.

This episode also features an excerpt from Tent Theology, a new podcast that I am helping to produce and am a cohost on. Please give it a listen. The aim of what we are doing is to help renew the social and political imagination of Christians by following in the way of Jesus. Political theologian Dr. Stephen Backhouse is the main host, and he was a guest on the podcast a few years ago, where we discussed his biography of Soren Kierkegaard. Backhouse also has a ministry named Tent Theology which aims to help the Church engage with and learn theology from within their own congregation.
Here are all the places where you can purchase my book: 
Amazon
Christian Book Distributors
Wipf and Stock
Barnes and Noble
Google Play
Faithlife
Cokesbury
Lagron Miller (Roman Catholic book, gift, and vestment store in Peoria, Illinois)
Thrift Books

Other related podcast episodes on Christmas:
Ep 79: Blair E. Clark and the Artwork for the 12 Days of Christmas
Ep 79: Dr. Michael Ward on C.S. Lewis, Paganism, and Christmas
Ep 71: Happy Pagan Christmas!
Ep 72: The 12 Days of Christmas, New Years, and Epiphany

How to Write a Book Proposal (as best I know how)

Note: this article was created as a presentation for the 2020 Business of Art conference put on by Arts Partners of Central Illinois and held at Bradley University. This is the experience I have gained in getting my own book, Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, accepted and published. This is the third article in a series on completing a book from proposal to publication. The other articles are:
12 Days of Christmas Book Marketing Blitz!
How to Market a Book (as best I know how)

The buildup to the proposal
In my short career as an author (depending on what you mean by short), I have written one successful and one unsuccessful book proposal. Each of them took me months and months of preparation and work and both were essentially formatted the same. With the unsuccessful book I truly played the lottery, as it was written for a specific book series (33 1/3 with Bloomsbury) and was specifically about the band Arcade Fire's album Reflektor. With around 500 submissions, my proposal made the first cut to around 80 proposals, but it did not make the final cut of being accepted for publication. Knowing there was not much of a place in the publishing world for a book like this (at least that I could see), I regrouped and attempted to figure out what kind of book I could get published.

The 12 Days of Christmas Book Media Blitz!

Artwork by Blair E. Clark

Note: this article was created as a presentation for the 2020 Business of Art conference put on by Arts Partners of Central Illinois and held at Bradley University. 
This is the first article in a series based on my experience of getting my own book, Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, written and released, from proposal to publication. The other articles are:
How to Write a Book Proposal (as best I know how)
How to Market a Book (as best I know how)
___________________________________

What a whirlwind....

It's been quite the few months for me as I launched my first book, Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas out into the world. 

Ep 79: Blair E. Clark and Artwork for the 12 Days of Christmas

Episode 79 features an interview with Blair E. Clark about the artwork she did for my book Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas. A native of Michigan, Blair is a Central Illinois artist whose work you can find at: https://blairjeffers.wordpress.com/. At the moment she is in the process of starting her own business Rabil Illustration (stay tuned for more info), but she also co-founded and helps lead the Emerging Artists Collective, a group of artists in Peoria, Illinois looking to equip developing artists to become more established. Blair and I have known each other a number of years now. She and her husband are family friends whom I go to church with and respect deeply. 

Image taken from Peoria Magazine article
"Rediscovering the 12 Days of Christmas"

When I began writing my book I knew I wanted to collaborate with Blair on the artwork. I also wanted to give her the opportunity to have her work featured on and within a book that people can buy all around the world. It was tremendously enriching to sit down with her every few months and check in about how her piece was coming along, discussing what influences, symbols, and general direction we wanted it to take. In our conversation, Blair talks about her process, some of the imagery embedded in the her work on the book that might not be immediately obvious, and also her approach to making Mary and Joseph people who were not white Europeans and yet still universal figures we can all relate to.

Here are two recent articles featuring her art and community work (one of which I wrote):
"Rediscovering the 12 Days of Christmas" in Peoria Magazine
"Collecting Growth" about the Emerging Artists Collective in Peoria Magazine

Subscribe to the podcast on itunes 

Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, 
Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.

My book Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas is available most anywhere you can purchase books online:
Amazon
Christian Book Distributors
Wipf and Stock
Barnes and Noble
Google Play
Faithlife Ebooks

You can also listen to the previous more longform interview I did with Blair on episode 22.

Other related podcast episodes and articles:
Ep 79: Dr. Michael Ward on C.S. Lewis, Paganism, and Christmas
Ep 71: Happy Pagan Christmas!
Ep 72: The 12 Days of Christmas, New Years, and Epiphany
Episode 63: Artist Jaci Musec

Episode 46: Artist Quinton Thomas
Episode 13: Artist Jessica Ball—Owner of the Art Garage
Episode 21: Carol McPherson—Director of the Fost Gallery
Episode 38: Musician Jared Grabb

Episode 40: Coffee Artist Kagan Masters
Episode 42: Artist Alec DeJesus (2017)
Episode 44: Natalia and Earl of Yaku

Ep 73: Phil Joel on his new book and being in Newsboys and Zealand

On Ep 73 of the PostConsumer Reports Podcast we have Phil Joel, notably of the bands Newsboys, Zealand, and also a prolific solo music career, who has just released his first book Redwoods and Whales. You will need to read the book to discover Joel's inspirational meaning, but essentially it is much better if we end up like a redwood and not a whale (of the beached variety...). You can find links of where to buy the book at his website: http://www.philjoel.com/. While currently gearing up for another Zealand album, Joel is also in the midst of the successful Newsboys United "Greatness of Our God" tour, which finds him reuniting with Peter Furler, his former bandmates, and Michael Tait of DC Talk who has be leading the band for the past several years. In our conversation we discuss the tensions of songwriting in the Christian industry, what led him to write his book, and his reflections on the lates chapter of being a Newsboy.

Please check out these past PostConsumer articles on the Newsboys:
PostHumous Record Reviews: Newsboys' Love Liberty Disco
Record Review: Peter Furler Band's Sun and Shield
Peter Furler: His New Album and 15 Greatest Songs



Subscribe to the podcast on itunes 
Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.


Related Podcast Episodes:

Episode 52: Fernando Ortega's The Crucifixion of Jesus

Episode 50: Stu G on the Beatitudes Project

Ep 55: Singer-songwriter Nathan Peterson

Ep 59: Jeremy Casella's New Album and Kickstarter Campaign

Ep 56: Andrew Osenga

Ep 53: The Mosleys—Husband and Wife Duo
Ep 67: Singer-songwriter John Van Deusen
Ep 70: Glenn Kaiser

Ep 72: The 12 Days of Christmas, New Years, and Epiphany

Artwork courtesy of Blair Clark. This is not the final cover
to the book, but she is starting to work on it...

It reads like a bad joke, but this episode features interviews with 2 Anglican bishops and an Eastern Orthodox priest. Bishop Alberto Morales, Bishop Keith Ackerman, and Fr. Andrew Kishler all gave me time to talk about an assorted amount of Christmas traditions, both secular and ecclesiastical. We discuss Puerto Rican Christmas traditions, how to do New Years and the Feast of the Holy Name as a church, and what Epiphany/Theophany looks like for Eastern Orthodox Christians. And please consider supporting the Kickstarter campaign I have going on right now for my forthcoming book on Christmas: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrismarchand/book-celebrating-the-12-days-of-christmas



Subscribe to the podcast on itunes 
Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.

Also, in the past few weeks, the book and the Kickstarter have been featured on a few other podcasts and blog, which you can check out here:
Anglican Audio Faith and Honor Podcast
The Come to the Table Podcast Global Christian Worship Blog 
The Rabbit Room Facebook Page:
Related Podcast Episodes:
Ep 62: Brian Roberts of Ha Ha Tonka

Ep 52: Fernando Ortega's The Crucifixion of Jesus

Ep 50: Stu G on the Beatitudes Project

Ep 59: Jeremy Casella's New Album and Kickstarter Campaign

Ep 56: Andrew Osenga

Ep 53: The Mosleys—Husband and Wife Duo
Ep 67: Singer-songwriter John Van Deusen
Ep 62: Stephen Backhouse on the Life of Kierkegaard
Ep 63: Artist Jaci Musec

Ep 46: Artist Quinton Thomas
Ep 13: Artist Jessica Ball—Owner of the Art Garage
Ep 22: Artist Blair Jeffers

Ep 71: Happy Pagan Christmas! (and support Chris's book)

Episode 71 features an interview with Gabi and Petr Michlik about the Christmas traditions they knew growing up in the Czech Republic, traditions with a surprisingly, terrifyingly Pagan bent...where Santa is more of a demon than a jolly old elf. But there's so much more.... Have you ever heard about the Christmas tradition where a carp lives in your bathtub for a week before the 25th of December? Me either.

This conversation is being released to help promote the Kickstarter campaign Chris is putting on to help fund the completion of his new book on the history and traditions of the 12 Days of Christmas. You can find out more info and support the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chrismarchand/book-celebrating-the-12-days-of-christmas




Subscribe to the podcast on itunes 
Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.

Related Podcast Episodes:
Ep 62: Brian Roberts of Ha Ha Tonka

Ep 52: Fernando Ortega's The Crucifixion of Jesus

Ep 50: Stu G on the Beatitudes Project

Ep 59: Jeremy Casella's New Album and Kickstarter Campaign

Ep 56: Andrew Osenga

Ep 53: The Mosleys—Husband and Wife Duo
Ep 67: Singer-songwriter John Van Deusen
Ep 62: Stephen Backhouse on the Life of Kierkegaard
Ep 63: Artist Jaci Musec

Ep 46: Artist Quinton Thomas
Ep 13: Artist Jessica Ball—Owner of the Art Garage
Ep 22: Artist Blair Jeffers

Ep 62: Stephen Backhouse on the life of Kierkegaard

Photo by Sophie Francisco

Stephen Backhouse is a author, theologian, and teacher and the author of Kierkegaard: A Single Life, a biography and survey of the work of the iconoclastic Danish writer Soren Kierkegaard. You can purchase Kierkegaard: A Single Life on Amazon by clicking on the link and you can find out more about Stephen's Tent Theology teaching program at: https://www.tenttheology.com/

While our conversation is mostly about Kierkegaard and his work, we also discuss the dangers of Christian Nationalism (or Christendom)—including a segment on whether or not American Christians should recite the Pledge of Allegiance—,the dangers of being an ordained minister within the institution of the Church, and how Arcade Fire's album Reflektor was inspired by Kierkegaard (Here is the Postconsumer article about that subject: Postconsumer Reports article of Arcade Fire and Kierkegaard). 


 You can stream the episode above, subscribe to the podcast on itunes or Check out the podcast page to subscribe on Stitcher, Google Play, Tunein, and PocketCasts.   

More interviews with Stephen Backhouse:
Another interview with Stephen Backhouse
Info on the book Kierkegaard and Political Theology
Why Go Kierkegaard? with Stephen Backhouse
Unbelievable? Kierkegaard interview with Stephen Backhouse and Jane Williams


Related Podcast Episodes:
Ep 45: Religion and Philosophy Professor Brooks McDaniel
Episode 50: Stu G on the Beatitudes Project
Episode 49: Doug Chu on White Churches, Multicultural Worship, and the Asian-American Experience
Episode 47: Dr. Lester Ruth on the history of Contemporary Worship
Episode 26: Zac Hicks author of The Worship Pastor
Episode 07: Pastor Luke Edwards on "why churches should stop giving stuff away"

Episode 08: Dr. Jeremiah Gibbs on Postmodern Apologetics

Episode 11: Thom Blair on the Hebrew English Interlinear O.T. and Logos Bible Software

Episode 17: Pastor Douglas Wilson 

Episode 33: Author Michelle Van Loon on the Church Calendar