Book-Bat
Join us in celebrating, exploring, and navigating the world of Christian fantasy books!
Post by Karlissa J.
I’ve now received my copies of The Promise!
It’s been exciting, finally being able to share my first trilogy with my readers! And to honour the occasion, my husband set up a surprise celebration - complete with ice cream cake!
I’ve mentioned before that I’m part of a game development team called Soltorch Games. Specifically, I’m the Story Director.
What does that mean?
I’ve done things like brainstorm world lore, vote on ideas, write scripts, and invent characters. I’ve done none of those things solo, though; so if you play the game and happen to like a particular character, line, or world aspect, I can’t necessarily take credit for it.
That’s one interesting aspect about being on a team.
As a creative person, I’ve almost always done the creating on my own. Being an author, I write my books by myself. (Mostly. Actually, my husband helps write some of the fight scenes and related content, as that isn’t my expertise. And I'll credit my editor Evan Braun with helping my books turn out more polished than they’d otherwise be.)
But on a game development team, no one person is responsible for the final product. Bits of all of our creativity and work is scattered throughout.
That means each person’s skills, combined, can bring the game to life in ways any one of us couldn’t do on our own.
For example, I came up with the concept for the dragonoid Jairia. I wrote some lines for her, and described her personality and backstory.
In a book, things would have been left at that. She’d exist as a concept. You could say the ‘soul’ of the character is what I created.
But the team took my idea further. They designed a look for her, and modeled her. Now, it feels like she’s more than just a soul, but has a ‘body’ as well.
It’s an incredible feeling, to see the character brought to life in ways I could never do by myself.
This is my first time being seriously involved in digital game development, and although I’ve been part of this project for months, we’re still learning as a team. The rest of the team is a fair bit more experienced in game creation than I am, so I’m still discovering what’s needed from me, and how I can best help.
I’ve actually stepped back from the project for the birth of my daughter and adjusting to her arrival. But the team has continued to make progress while I’ve been away, and it’s amazing to see how far along the game is coming!
I’m hoping I’ll be able to find time to get back into that soon - though with a book to write and other projects in the works, we’ll have to wait and see.
If you want to know more about how the game is coming along, you can visit the team’s blog.
2020 has been busy, with it’s share of ups and downs.
In terms of author events, I announced the winners of my first art contest and the results of my second art contest. I also posted my own art piece. And I announced and then had to cancel my book launch.
I posted my own reviews for Black Mists and Dwelling in Darkness, and my thoughts about how I wanted to handle the covid-19 crisis. I also shared some nature designs, and on my personal FaceBook page, I re-shared a blog post about ants from 2019.
In my April update, I said my goal for writing would be to finish Part One of my next book by mid-June. Though that didn’t happen, I have made great progress, and am on schedule to publish sometime next year. Good thing, since I’ve got a lot of fans looking forward to the conclusion to Tales of the Diversity!
In another recent post, I talked about the church library I run and how the pandemic restrictions have affected it. Well, our church just announced that the library is open again! (With the necessary restrictions, of course.) So I will be getting back to work there.
Why all this review? Basically, because I may not be posting much for blogs in the remainder of the year. The arrival of our next baby is ever approaching. And the pandemic restrictions mean I may wait until next year to do book signings.
However, I do still plan on doing a post about the video game I’m helping create. If you want to follow the game’s official blog, you can sign up for updates on the Soltorch website.
Thank you to all who continue to encourage me in my writing and other projects! It’s a blessing to hear how I’ve made a positive impact in your lives.
For my ‘entry’ for the art contest, I decided to do a simple sketch.
So… SPOILER WARNING!
In The Loss, Jair becomes aware of his insanity, and has to face it. Though maybe it isn’t a major plot point in that book, it is significant to me. I decided to represent his moment of awareness, adding a mirror to reflect what’s going on inside him: how he now sees his mind as cracked and broken.
You could say the concept represented is “Mental Illness.” However, I think of it more as “Awareness.” Throughout Tales of the Diversity, various characters become more aware of their weaknesses, who they are, and where they want their lives to go.
It’s a theme that continues into the third book, which I’m still busily writing.
The art contest is open for submissions until June 15th: create an art piece (it can be a photograph, painting, model, whatever!) representing a concept from Tales of the Diversity, and send it in to author@karlissaj.com.
Black Mists is the black sheep of my books. My second published work, it’s a ‘real world’ story, instead of a fantasy. It’s also my darkest book, better suited for adults than youth.
I previously called Black Mists a mystery, but upon revisiting it, I’d say it’s more of a thriller. It’s actually three or four stories combined into one. It features fast-paced action and a thrilling writing style, with many surprises along the way. Characters are unique, and can be quite colourful.
However, I do have several problems with this book. I feel like I’m a different person now than when I wrote Black Mists, with different life experiences affecting my perspective of it.
Black Mists is something… Bizarre. Complex. And fast-paced. And if that’s your type of book, it could be worth giving a read.
As a warning, the rest of this book review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. I know many prefer not to read spoilers before they’ve read a book: this is your warning!
Like I said, I do have some problems with Black Mists, and new life experiences that change how I see the book today.
Since I wrote the story – about six years ago – I’ve actually been in a situation where a hospital had to find me a place to spend the night. With that experience, I would write the first scene with “Julia” at the hospital a bit differently!
I’ve also been to mental health appointments, and learned a bit more about psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia and how they are diagnosed. Revisiting how I approached the topic of mental illness in Black Mists, it seems shallow and half-hazard, lacking much focus or education. There is sympathy towards Nika and her situation, but I believe I could do better at writing those scenes today than I did back then.
And since publishing Black Mists, I’ve been to London again, refreshing my memory of this beautiful city. My descriptions of it would be more in-depth now.
Regardless of my problems with the book, it was a big part of my writing journey. I had a surprising amount of memories floating through my mind while reading it… which seems appropriate for a story about remembering.
It’s been a while since I read my third published book, “Dwelling in Darkness.”
I’ve called it a ‘loose sequel’ to “Kingdom of Bats.” But really, the two have different writing styles and characters, and take place on different worlds with different technology. They are in the same universe, and one character is in both, but that’s about it.
Rereading “Dwelling in Darkness” today, I’d say it’s one of my favourites. The threats to the heroes are introduced right from the start. And the story is fast-paced, but still allows time to get to know the characters involved.
One of my readers described this book as “nerdy,” and I think that’s a pretty accurate description! I wanted it to be more informative and fact-based than “Kingdom of Bats,” so I dived deeper into the animals represented.
I also wanted to stretch and challenge myself as a writer.
I took a swing at tapping into traditional stories, with references to Mayan and Malagasy (Madagascan) mythologies.
Chapter thirteen gave me an opportunity to dive into what it might be like to experience the world from the perspective of deep-sea fishes, creatures very unlike us. I enjoyed writing that chapter, challenging myself to think outside the box.
This is one of those books that someone like me may love, but someone else may find infuriating.
The mystery concerning how, why, and to what extent the dream-world is real never gets answered. I think it works fine that way, but I could see it frustrating certain readers.
The nerdiness was something I enjoyed, something I can appreciate in animal fantasy stories; though I know some may find it distracting.
And my dive into the weird world of cave and deep-sea creatures – especially the latter – really was designed to stretch the mind a little. I can see some people finding that a bog to get through.
The book has flaws, but I still had fun reading it, and I felt very passionately about it when it first got published. I find it sad it hasn’t succeeded as well as “Kingdom of Bats” and “Black Mists,” but I suppose it is more written for a niche audience than either of those.
If it sounds like your type of book, then give it a read! It’s available online, and in ebook form from various sellers!
Back in 2013, I published my very first book, Kingdom of Bats. A lot can change - and has changed - in seven years. I got married, had kids, and my writing style has evolved.
I decided to revisit that first book: rereading it and seeing whether my perspective on the story has changed over these seven years.
And… I found Kingdom of Bats to be a good book! But for different reasons than I expected.
The themes of good versus evil, and how the past affects the present, were what stood out to me.
A variety of bat species are introduced, along with other animals, creating a colourful and diverse world.
And I found the climax exciting and well-paced… even if it was too early on in the book!
It’s evident that this was my first published work, with my writing and storytelling less polished and developed than future works. It’s interesting to see how far I’ve come since then, and how much better I feel about how I wrote my most recent books, The Quest and The Loss.
Thank you to those of you who’ve shown an interest in the art contest: it sounds like some artists are hard at work on their pieces! Remember, the contest is currently open for submissions, and will close at the end of January.