Den’s Comments (group member since Dec 01, 2017)

Den’s comments from the Christian Cyberpunk Books group.

Wow. Superb video. It looks like you are doing things right.

Feel free to share. You're always welcome.

This does sound like it could be a good find on your part and worth looking into. If it actually has a good message, it deserves some support. I added two of the books that I could find to the group's collection without rating them.

You can go HERE to get the ebook for free. It is also available at Amazon/Kindle for a very low price.

That's a great goal. If you want to email me, that would be great. Likewise, I'd like to keep in touch with you for the same reasons. If it is something you want to bring up that could be useful to those here, that is fine too. Or if something is relevant to the Lucid Series Shared Universe on MeWe.

Laurence wrote: "The trick is to make it seem like it was the reader's idea. Get them "seeking" it and then present them with the Gospel in a way that is not "in your face" but might get them start to wonder and as..."

I think you are right. It is a cause and effect situation. Men don't go into a Christian book store much because all they see are Amish romances. So the stores and publishers don't want to invest in anything else. It would be a tough sell since women do most of the reading, by how much, I'm not sure.

I've done the subtle Gospel message method in some of my books. I understand doing it that way. At least its better than an allegory where you have to stretch your imagination to figure out.


I don't feel like writing the subtle way right now. Although if I can write sequels that bring attention back to LC Book 1, I'll be satisfied with it. Book 2 is causing many new downloads to Book 1. That encourages me to write more sequels.

Publishers like to be in the Christian genre, but their offerings are "feel good religiosity" or "inspirational".

That is not good enough. Now is the time for Christians to stick their neck out there and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I just released Book 2 of the Lucid Series. It is both Christian and Cyberpunk.
Please download it here for free:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

I am very close to finishing up Book 2. I did not want to issue another book unless I had a considerable amount of scifi tech elements written into it. I am satisfied with that aspect of it.

I won't make any money as the paperbacks will be rock bottom and the ebooks will be free.

I wasn't sure I even cared if Book 2 was a Christian novel or not. The main focus was to bring more attention back to Book 1 and the emphasis on the Gospel. I'd say that Book 2 aims heavily toward the lost if not more. Also, there is some mention of not relying totally on knowledge, but also on revelation, or walking with Jesus.

I hope this book will find favor with readers when it comes out sometime this month. I enjoy writing in this series and will do my best to continue if that is God's will.

Thank you, Stan. I'll definitely take your comments to heart. Thank you.

I got about a third of the way done with Book 2 (12K word count) and stalled out hard. My writing productivity over the last four years was prolific. Now I think I am getting wore down. Perhaps I am relying too much on reviews and feedback, which I have never felt like there was very much of it. At least the good kind. I told myself I wouldn't continue the series without a good amount of creative ideas, which I have. But when I go to write, I just feel like blah, yuck.
My goal for book 2 is to simply make it attractive enough to potential readers to bring attention back to book 1, which is loaded down with apologetics. Book 2 may not even be categorized as Christian when I am done, or maybe some definite themes will surface as it develops.

Added it to our bookshelf. I see there is a curriculum guidebook for it also. Have you checked that out?

That is interesting because I just posted Guidebook to The Lucid Series: Android Uprising on Smashwords.

Stan wrote: "This is a very encouraging review Den. I'll add this one to my Want to Read list. Glad you found it to be promising, even if not preachy!"

I suspect you will like it.

I put my review on Goodreads. Amazon won't let me post. I think because I have not spent enough money on their site. (Not kidding. It's in their rules.)

Dronefall is a smart, cool, plausible future setting. The novel is marvelously written and extremely well edited. The characters in the story are interesting and well developed and the settings are well developed. There is good tension in the story. Buehrer has created an interesting cyberpunk world that will provide exciting sequels.
This book is presented as Christian. It is Christian in that it is a clean read and not what I would call edgy with any graphic violence. The protagonists are Christians and some of the scenes include church attendance.
Some will be pleased that Dronefall is not preachy. They prefer that their entertainment is not trying to sell a viewpoint. To those, or even non-Christians, I highly recommend this book. Other Christians want some level of explicit Christian viewpoint in the dialog to add more passion to the motives of the character’s struggle, and include the Gospel message to those readers who may not know.

Great message and I'll welcome whatever help you want to offer. I'll start working on it, but mostly just during the weekends. I think it will be interesting.

Thank you, Ann for your reply, which I found interesting and useful. I don't know anything about the common core standards. Would this be of benefit? I plan on making this book/booklet free as well, but if you are interested, I'd welcome your input at whatever level you want, up to and including co-authorship.
bigontraining@yahoo.com.

I am interested in feedback from this group on this.

Since The Lucid Series: Android Uprising ebook has become free at multiple online retailers, its distribution has started to gain momentum. The goal is to get it into as many hands as possible, particularly young people. Since it is free, the book can easily be used for a book reading group.

Noted Christian fiction book reviewer David Bergsland said of the book, "If your teenager reads it, you can expect some very interesting questions and discussions. I recommend this entertaining read."

So my thinking is, (I design training in my real job) why not make a discussion guidebook to accompany the novel, that way youth pastors, or church book club groups can prompt their group with some probing questions on all kinds of things in each chapter.

What motivated that character?
Could that really happen? How?
Do you think it could happen?
Discussions of human cloning and androids.
Where does evil come from?
Who determines what is evil?
What is a worldview?
How does this compare to what is going on right now in the world?
Will this sort of thing affect me in my later years? How?
What can be done about it?

I would like your insight on this. If you think it is a good idea, what features should it have? How to keep it fresh and interesting?

That makes perfect sense. In fact, if I did it, I would still be the editor of the series so it would maintain a Christian worldview and maintain certain standards.

In the shared universe, the creator of each character would "own" the character and have to approve any major lasting changes to them, especially a fatality.

A benefit of the shared universe would be more stories and have a ready-made series that fans would already know.

From Wikipedia: A shared universe or shared world is a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, characters, or world of the overall project.

Does anyone here have an opinion on shared universes? I am thinking about opening up The Lucid Series to being a shared universe.The Lucid Series: Android Uprising