Author Archives: Janet Sketchley

About Janet Sketchley

Janet Sketchley is an Atlantic Canadian writer whose Redemption’s Edge Christian suspense novels have each been finalists in The Word Awards. She's also the author of the devotional collection, A Year of Tenacity. Janet blogs about faith and books. She loves Jesus and her family, and enjoys reading, worship music, and tea. Fans of Christian suspense are invited to join her writing journey through her monthly newsletter: bit.ly/JanetSketchleyNews.

Congratulations to Judith Millar

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Canadian writer Judith Millar produces a very funny weekly blog, MillarLITE. She’s also a fine writer of serious fiction, and winner of the 2009 John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award.

Judy writes, “To have my name in any way linked with Galbraith’s is, for me, a huge honour; to be the first woman to earn the award since its inception is the icing on my cake!”

Take a few minutes to read her winning story, “The Insomniac“. It’s sensitive, evocative, a bit sad, and “the last word” satisfies. She really made the story come alive, and I’m still thinking about it.

To have my name in any way linked with Galbraith’s is, for me, a huge honour; to be the first woman to earn the award since its inception is the icing on my cake!

Conscious of God’s Care

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Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favour, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
Colossians 3:22, NIV*

Somehow this spoke to me about doing right for the right reason—pleasing God, instead of the wrong reason—appeasing people.

I’m not a little girl with authority figures looming in judgment. If someone does chastise, rightly or wrongly, that doesn’t need to crush me. Jesus is the Shepherd and Overseer of my soul and I don’t need to fear men or women.

The verse in Colossians led me to 1 Peter, where it expands on what to do if you’re suffering unjustly: Jesus “entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23, NIV) and “it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because He is conscious of God.” (1 Peter 2:19, NIV)

For me today, this addresses fear of harshness, which can crush me if I let it. Instead, I’m to be conscious of God, who’s with me and loves me, and I’m to entrust myself to His care.

My hope and confidence are in Jesus. He says I have value, and He loves me. He accepts me and is growing me into His image.

Father, when we’re alone I know You’re near, but the fear of others’ response can take my eyes off of You. Please forgive me, and teach me to walk in the truth of the healing Jesus gives. Help me stay conscious of You, trusting myself to Your care and protection no matter where You lead.

The soundtrack God has given me to keep my focus is “I Need No Other” from Todd Agnew’s new album, Need. It’s a new melody and arrangement of the hymn “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” (or “No Other Plea”).

Janet Sketchley

October 18, 2009

Starfire, by Stuart Vaughn Stockton (Marcher Lord Press, 2009)

Rathe’s birth order dooms him to a menial existence as a mine guard—until a chance encounter with a dying enemy leaves him a hero.

He and his best friend Rak have been through a lot together, and their jostling banter could be that of any active young men. Except they’re dinosaurs. Sentient, tool-using, weapon-wielding T-Rex lookalikes who stand 11 feet tall.

They live on the planet Sauria, and their people fear the stars. Legend says the stars are angry over an offense the Saurn have long forgotten.

Rathe’s skill in combat earns him an elite position in the Imperial Army—one that may be out of his depth. He feels outclassed in his Spur (military unit) and the second in command is looking for an excuse to send him back. One of his other spur-mates follows the unpopular Wayfarer sect, and his words about his God and His Son’s sacrifice are incomprehensible to Rathe.

Even worse is the appearance of the now-grown hatchling Rathe saved in his moment of glory. Will the young Goshren remember the truth of what happened?

Stuart Vaughn Stockton has created a richly-imagined alien landscape and culture. He lets the setting unfold around the action and resists the urge to stop for information dumps. It’s a fascinating place, especially the vegetation: some plants float, others are harvested for indoor lighting, and there’s a moving forest that eats rocks.

The characters are real. Their very human attitudes and emotions help readers connect. Long before the end of chapter one I was firmly in Rathe’s corner, relating to his struggles and cheering him on.

Starfire is filled with military clashes in a conflict where victory depends on a weapon that ancient prophecy claims will bring disaster. Should Rathe heed the warning or save his people?

I confess by the end I was as battle-weary as Rathe and his unit, and would not have jumped into a sequel if I had it on hand. Give me a while to recover, though, and by the time it’s published I’m sure I’ll be ready.

Starfire includes a size-and-shape-comparison chart for the main types of Saurn, as well as a glossary. It’s great to be able to see what the characters look like, although I found the terms clear enough from context that I didn’t need to look them up. With all these helps, I’d have liked to have a map of the action.

On reflection the character of Karey Or, and Rathe’s connection with her, hinges on the presence of two specific types of Saurn. Major plot points like this shouldn’t depend on coincidence, but Stuart Vaughn Stockton handles it so well we don’t realize at the time how big a coincidence it really is. As such, it doesn’t jolt the reader out of the fictional world.

A few species of Saurn, like the long-necked Apatos, carry names that help the reader to imagine what they look like. A stickler might argue that dinosaurs on another planet, even if they turn out in a later book to be related to ours, would not use the names we assigned to them after they were gone. To that stickler, I say, “It helps the reader visualize. Get over it.”

Marcher Lord Press is an innovative new publisher I’ve been watching from the start. Although all its titles look good and some have won awards, Starfire is the first one I’ve decided to purchase.

For Canadians (and I assume anyone else outside the continental US) I’d recommend ordering through Amazon.ca or your local equivalent.

I like to support my local Christian store, but this book cost a lot for them to bring in. Amazon.ca, even with shipping, would have been significantly cheaper. And as any good Amazon shopper knows, orders over $39 qualify for free shipping.

Amazon.ca lists Starfire at $11.87 Canadian, so you only need to find $28 worth of other products for yourself or for gifts. Maybe try another MLP title or two!

Starfire is Stuart Vaughn Stockton’s first novel, but you can tell from the richness of the story world that he’s been developing and refining it for a long time. You can read the prologue and opening chapter here. Check out an interview with Stuart here.

–Update, 11 March 2010: Starfire won an 2010 EPPIE award (science fiction category).–

God With Us–All the Time

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If the psalmist is right—that there truly is nowhere we can go to flee God’s presence—why do we act like his attendance is intermittent? And why do we assume it’s dependent on us?

This is the question Canadian singer/songwriter/writer Carolyn Arends asks in her latest column, “Come Lord Jesus,” in Christianity Today. Click either of the preceding links to read the full column and to see how baseball can teach a spiritual lesson.

Thank you to Ginny Jaques at Something About the Joy for pointing me to this article. Carolyn’s writing is always worth reading.

Healed and Free

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He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:24-25, NIV*

Peter’s words echo Isaiah 53, and to me they speak of a spiritual healing: from sin into righteousness, from our transgressions and iniquities and sorrows into peace.

I have no insights about physical healing, but spiritual hurts go even deeper—and they are clearly promised to be healed.

The Apostle Paul tells us to count ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, and he doesn’t mean to ignore our failings and pretend they don’t exist. I think he means to walk in the truth of God’s Word and not give in to the old ways.

To take Jesus’ promises as true and trust Him to be at work in us. To believe that His power is greater than our pain. To cooperate with Him as He changes us into what He designed us to be.

Father, there are so many things You want to heal and change in each of us. So much pain in the world. You are the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. The Message says You have named us and keep us for good. Help me love, trust and obey You.

I know I referred to this song last week, but I can’t read these verses without hearing Peter Furler’s impassioned recitation of parts of Isaiah 53 in the newsboys’ song (extended version), “I Am Free.” What I’d really like to share with you is the 7-minute version on the special edition Go CD, but this is at least more of it than you’d usually hear on the radio. It’s loud, but take the words to heart. It’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Expectant Living

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Monday was my day to post at InScribe Writers Online. I shared some thoughts on expectant living, inspired by Joseph of Arimathea.

Review: West Nile Diary, by Kathleen Gibson

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West Nile Diary: One Couple’s Triumph Over a Deadly Disease by Kathleen Gibson (BPS Books, 2009)

Bugs are an unwelcome but expected part of a picnic. The mosquito that bit Rick Gibson in August 2007 gave something back: West Nile neurological disease.

West Nile Diary is the story of Rick and Kathleen Gibson’s battle to recover from what Kathleen calls “the pirates of West Nile.” Like a pirate attack, the disease hit without warning, plundered their lives and left them facing a difficult and uncertain future.

Kathleen tells their story through journal entries, emails and her newspaper column, “Sunny Side Up.” It’s a frank, personal account that left me not only cheering for the Gibsons but feeling like I now know Kathleen much better than our passing acquaintance would suggest.

The book is non-fiction but it reads like a novel, complete with escalating tension and reversals. It’s done without chapter breaks, each entry two pages at the most, and I stayed awake way too late reading “just one more.”

It’s a story of illness and the struggle to regain independent life, but it’s not a “downer.” Certain sections had me blinking back tears, but others made me laugh. Kathleen’s informal and personal writing style made it feel like she was telling me the story one-on-one.

According to the CBC website, “In Canada, 42 people have died from the virus since 2002.” The same article adds, “In 2008, the Public Health Agency of Canada said the number of human cases totalled 38.” That’s down from 2,401 in 2007 and 6 in the first 37 weeks of 2009. Let’s hope it stays down.

Only one in 50 cases will develop into meningitis or encephalitis like Rick’s. Most readers will be the lucky ones who escape West Nile entirely. But we’ll all experience serious illness—either as the victim, the caregiver, or the supportive friend or loved one.

West Nile Diary lets us walk in the footsteps of one couple’s journey and although our own may be very different there are similarities for which we can prepare.

For all the good medical staff, there will be some clashes. Some good friends will fade out of our lives; others will amaze us with their care. We’ll develop new friendships with fellow travellers. Life will change. We’ll have no guarantee of the future. If we make it through, re-entry to “the real world” will be surprisingly scary, and the caregiver will find it hard to let the healing person become independent.

What made the difference every day for the Gibsons was their relationship with God. Kathleen prayed each day for “strength for today and hope for tomorrow.” God always said “yes” to that prayer. As well as restoring much of Rick’s health, He drew the couple into caring relationships with people they’d never have otherwise met.

Kathleen says, “I’ve learned three things in my journey down the West Nile with Rick and the pirates: God is a lot stronger than I thought he was, I’m a lot stronger than I thought I was, and God can do exquisite things with broken circumstances.” p. iix

To learn more about Canadian author Kathleen Gibson, visit her website. And be sure to check out her “Sunny Side Up” column. Kathleen is also the winner of Word Alive Press’ 2009 non-fiction contest for her book, Practice by Practice: The Art of Everyday Faith. Publication date has not yet been announced, but I hope it’s soon.

In closing, as Kathleen says in West Nile Diary, “PS. Wear repellent.”

God Hears Us

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When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”
“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
John 1:47-49, NIV*

I’ve been told an Israelite’s fig tree in those days was a place of prayer. I like to imagine that whatever Nathanael’s prayer time had been that day, it was personal, intense. He meant business with God. Maybe he questioned if God really heard him, and if He’d ever send the promised Messiah.

Now something in Jesus’ words, or a look in His eye, let Nathanael know God had heard.

I’m making this up. But God does hear us, and sometimes He lets us know.

This morning after my quiet time with God, I turned on K-LOVE internet radio. Amid the friendly chatter, a lady called in to say she’d just read their Encouraging Word for the day on her Blackberry—and something in the verse spoke directly to what she’d been praying about. She knew God had heard.

I listened with half an ear until the next song began and my spirit shivered—the Newsboys’ “I Am Free” pointed right back to Isaiah 53, the Scripture I’d read twenty minutes earlier as I prayed for myself and for a friend. When the song started playing, I was typing him an email of encouragement.

Tell me God doesn’t hear prayer. The sun isn’t hot, either.

Father God, You are El Roi, the God Who Sees. Who loves us and has compassion on all He has made. Forgive our doubts when we wonder if You’ve heard us. Thank You so much for those very personal moments when You touch our individual spirits to let us know You hear.

Our song this week is “He Knows My Name,” by Tommy Walker.

Review: Mohamed’s Moon, by Keith Clemons

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Mohamed’s Moon, by Keith Clemons (Realms, 2009)

Imagine coming face to face with your body double, who’s your opposite in nearly every way: finances, style, faith. You’d have to admit your evil twin is good looking though, and you have some similarities: you’re both university students who love soccer—and the same woman.

For Matthew Mulberry and Mohamed el Taher, it’s definitely not love at first sight. They don’t want to believe they’re brothers, identical twins separated at birth. Matthew is a Christian, Mohamed a Muslim extremist up to his eyeballs in a terrorist plot. Add in Layla, another Christian, who’s torn by feelings for both brothers.

A plot like this could come across as contrived, propaganda even, with cardboard hero and villain. Instead, award-winning author Keith Clemons gives us two vibrant, fundamentally opposite young men who are each seriously committed to their own understanding of God and His dealings with humanity. Each one’s reasoning makes sense to himself, while he sees the other man as clearly deceived.

If anything, Mohamed’s faith seems the stronger of the two, but I think that’s because we see him spend more time thinking about it. And he has a lot to think about. As well as wrestling with the ethics of mass murder, he’s drawn to compare the harsh Allah who calls him slave with the Christians’ Jesus, who claims God is love and who offers to call him son.

The action divides between California and Egypt, present and past. The flashbacks weave in smoothly, and the author uses just enough lyrical language to evoke the scene without slowing the pace. For example, here’s the California coast: “Waves crashed with a thunderous roar, only to be sucked back with a whoosh, leaving the shoreline bejewelled with fingernail shells sparkling in the crimson light of the dying sun.” (p.215)

Keith Clemons’ taut writing style pulls the reader into the story and keeps the pages turning. This isn’t a novel designed to paint all Muslims as terrorists, or all Christians as ideal. In each camp we see examples of devout behaviour and human failing. While Mohamed and his friends are extremists, other peripheral characters are Muslims living peaceful and caring lives.

If all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then the excesses and evils of the extremist leaders say far more about human depravity than about the deity they claim to serve.

The author’s Christianity is a clue to which side he’s on in comparing the two faiths, but he treats both fairly. He acknowledges the help of former Muslims in understanding Mohamed’s mindset.

Through twists, turns and surprises, Keith Clemons delivers us to a satisfying ending. Nothing is pat or easy, and none of the three main characters will ever be the same again.

The novel’s key characters are all of Egyptian origin, and it was an interesting experience for me as the fly-on-the-wall Caucasian reader to belong in the story world’s ethnic minority.

Canadian author Keith Clemons writes issue-related fiction. His previous novels, Angel in the Alley, These Little Ones, Above the Stars and If I Should Die, are all award-winners, and I have no doubt Mohamed’s Moon will follow suit.

You can read an interview with Keith at Interviews and Reviews and the Hot Apple Cider site. To read other reviews of Mohamed’s Moon, visit Promptings, Writer-lee, Writing Right, Interviews and Reviews and Deborah Gyapong’s blog.

God’s Purpose for Me

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I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me.
Psalm 57:2, NIV*

Lately I’ve been thinking this verse is about more than some “greater purpose” or particular calling God may have for my life.

What about the “ordinary” purposes that take up most of my day? Wife, mother, daughter, neighbour, church member. Each role has various responsibilities that I can see as chores or obligations if I view them as keeping me from what I really want to do.

My whole perspective changes when I remember that God has a purpose for me in each of these roles. Instead of being mundane stuff that interferes with my “greater purpose,” they may well be my greater purpose.

Father, please give me Your perspective on life. Help me start each day and enter each role with a prayer for grace and an attitude of loving gratitude to You. Remind me that You want to work out Your purpose for me.

Our song this week is a quiet prayer for all areas of our lives: “(In My Life, Lord) Be Glorified”