{"id":5990,"date":"2010-11-01T17:37:11","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T22:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/2010\/11\/01\/stephen-lawhead-s-the-skin-map-day-1\/"},"modified":"2010-11-01T17:37:11","modified_gmt":"2010-11-01T22:37:11","slug":"stephen-lawhead-s-the-skin-map-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/2010\/11\/01\/stephen-lawhead-s-the-skin-map-day-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Lawhead&#8217;s THE SKIN MAP &mdash; Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"goleft\" style=\"margin-right:30px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51xrxfRvDmL._SX250.jpg?w=1200\" alt=\"Stephen R. Lawhead's THE SKIN MAP\" title=\"Stephen R. Lawhead's THE SKIN MAP\" \/><strong>Well, it&#8217;s finally here!<\/strong>  The long awaited CSFF Blog Tour of Stephen R. Lawhead&#8217;s <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/1595548041\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">THE SKIN MAP<\/a><\/strong>! <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.EpicTales.org\/images\/smilies\/icon_smile.gif?w=1200\" alt=\"&#58;&#41;\" class=\"middle\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The incredible thing<\/strong> is that I was able to spend an extended weekend with Stephen in early October at the Laity Lodge Writer&#8217;s Retreat. As part of that, I had him sign an extra copy of The Skin Map that I AM GIVING AWAY AS PART OF THE BLOG TOUR!  <\/p>\n<p>Here are the rules to win the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stephenlawhead.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stephen Lawhead<\/a><\/strong> signed copy of The Skin Map, book one of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebrightempires.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Bright Empires<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>You must visit my blog<\/strong> all three days of the tour (11\/1, 11\/2, and 11\/3) and make some sort of meaningful comment toward the discussion of that day.<\/li>\n<li><strong>You must solve each of the riddles<\/strong>, and after day 3, provide me the answers through this <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/contact\/\">Contact Form<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Note &#8230; do not give your answers in a comment or others will see!<\/li>\n<li><strong>If more than one person<\/strong> fulfills the requirements, I will hold a drawing to determine the winner.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Note #1: The riddles are going to get progressively harder<\/strong>, with Day Three being VERY HARD.  Put on your sleuthing hats!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note #2: Anyone is eligible<\/strong> to win the autographed book, even those that already own a copy!  BUT &#8230; if you already own a copy, and want <em>this <\/em>autographed copy, I would request that you hold a contest of your own to give away your unsigned extra copy after you win.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But first my own review<\/strong>, and then at the very bottom of this post you will find the DAY ONE RIDDLE:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here&#8217;s my schedule<\/strong>&#8230;Day One: The Plot \/ Day Two: The Characters \/ Day Three: The Craft.<\/p>\n<h3>DAY ONE&#8230;THE PLOT:<\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Kit Livingstone&#8217;s great-grandfather appears to him in a deserted alley during a tumultuous storm.  He reveals an unbelievable story: that the ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legend or the weekend hobby of deluded cranks, but pathways to other worlds.  To those who know ow to use them, they grant the ability to travel the multi-layered universe of which we ordinarily inhabit only a tiny part.<\/p>\n<p>One explorer knew more than most.  Braving every danger, he toured both time and space on voyages of heroic discovery.  Ever on his guard, and fearful of becoming lost in the cosmos, he developed an intricate code&#8230; a roadmap of symbols&#8230; that he tattooed onto his own body.  This Skin Map has since been lost in time.  Now the race is on to recover all the pieces and discover its secrets.<\/p>\n<p>But the Skin Map itself is not the ultimate goal. It is merely the beginning of a vast and marvelous quest for a prize beyond imagining.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Stephen-R-Lawhead\/84503526872?v=wall&amp;ref=ts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\"  class=\"goright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.titletrakk.com\/Images\/authors\/stephen-lawhead-300.jpg?w=200\" alt=\"Stephen Lawhead\" title=\"Stephen Lawhead\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>MY THOUGHTS ON THE PLOT:<\/h3>\n<p><strong>After reading the book<\/strong>, I took a look at the Amazon page and was shocked at the bad Publisher&#8217;s Weekly review.  They called it a &#8220;clunky, incoherent mess&#8221;, and I couldn&#8217;t DISAGREE more.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Everything made perfect sense to me<\/strong>, except of course the mysteries that will be revealed and answered in later books.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I think Lawhead&#8217;s handling<\/strong> of a plot of this complexity was well done, and not only that, but an introductory book of this sort has a lot of extra ground to cover, and so the follow-books should be even more excellent.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Now, mind you, there are three or four interwoven plots going on<\/strong>, some of which take place in different worlds, even different ages.  So you have to keep your head on straight, but it is not hard to figure it out.  Not only that, but what does a reader expect when they come to a time-travel, world-travel book?  Complexity, mystery, and interwoven plots!<\/p>\n<p><strong>When I was with Stephen Lawhead at the writers retreat<\/strong>, it sounded like he is going to take the series in some pretty amazing directions.  Also, all you long-term Stephen Lawhead fans &#8230; be on the lookout for nods to his other books snuck in here and there.  This is fun!<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>So, if you haven&#8217;t yet read The Skin Map, go out and get it!  It is a compelling opening to an incredible story!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>And even if you have a copy<\/strong>, make sure to enter my contest for AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF THE SKIN MAP!<\/p>\n<h3>WIN AN AUTOGRAPHED &#8220;THE SKIN MAP&#8221; CONTEST:<\/h3>\n<p>Remember &#8230; you have to take some part in the discussion each day, and also <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/contact\/\">contact me<\/a><\/strong> with the solutions to the three riddles at the end of day three:<\/p>\n<p><strong>RIDDLE&#8230;DAY ONE:<\/strong>  Who is &#8220;The Man Who Is Map&#8221;?  Your answer will be a name.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DISCUSSION&#8230;DAY ONE:<\/strong>  What part of the plot did you like best?  For me it was Wilhemina and the coffee shop.  Note, spoliers are allowed in the comments, so read at your own risk.<\/p>\n<p><center><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/epictales.org\/images\/CSFF\/CSFF_Button_380.jpg?w=1200\" alt=\"CSFF Blog Tour\" title=\"CSFF Blog Tour\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>And don&#8217;t forget to visit the other members of the tour:<\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/tessbissell.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Red Bissell<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.oerkenleaves.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Thomas Clayton Booher<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.AdventuresInFiction.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Keanan Brand<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.splashdownreviews.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Grace Bridges<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/rbclibrary.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Beckie Burnham<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/morganlbusse.wordpress.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Morgan L. Busse<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/jeffchapmanwriter.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Jeff Chapman<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.christianfictionbookreviews.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Christian Fiction Book Reviews<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/valeriecomer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Valerie Comer<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kcreviews.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Karri Compton<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.the160acrewoods.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Amy Cruson<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/csffblogtour.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> CSFF Blog Tour<\/a> <br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/word-up-studies.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Stacey Dale<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scificatholic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> D. G. D. Davidson<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.endtimestavern.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">  George Duncan<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/projectinga.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> April Erwin<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/going-greene.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Tori Greene<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/realmofhearts.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Ryan Heart<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.613media.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Bruce Hennigan<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/fantasythyme.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Timothy Hicks<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.christopherhopper.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Christopher Hopper<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/jessebecky.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Becky Jesse<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/crisjesse.wordpress.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Cris Jesse<\/a> <br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/thewriterssword.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Becca Johnson<\/a>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.spoiledfortheordinary.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Jason Joyner<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.molcotw.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Julie<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/carolkeen.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Carol Keen<\/a> <br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/krystisbooks.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Krystine Kercher<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.shannonmcdermott.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Shannon McDermott<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/methodistcorner.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Allen McGraw<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/mikalatos.blogspot.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Matt Mikalatos<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/rebeccaluellamiller.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Rebecca LuElla Miller<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/linalamont.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Nissa<\/a> <br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.leastread.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> John W. Otte<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/gavinpatchett.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Gavin Patchett<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sarahsawyer.com\/blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Sarah Sawyer<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chawnaschroeder.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Chawna Schroeder<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/reviewsfromtheheart.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Kathleen Smith<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rachelstarrthomson.com\/inklings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Rachel Starr Thomson<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mindsinger.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Donna Swanson<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\"> Robert Treskillard<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/christiansf.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Steve Trower<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/frederation.wordpress.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Fred Warren<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fantasyandfaith.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Dona Watson<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/christian-fantasy-book-reviews.com\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Phyllis Wheeler<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theravenquill.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">  Nicole White<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/kerani-in-the-world.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Elizabeth Williams<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/facesoflions.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Dave Wilson<\/a>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Views: 416<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nWell, it&#8217;s finally here! The long awaited CSFF Blog Tour of Stephen R. Lawhead&#8217;s THE SKIN MAP! The incredible thing&hellip;\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/2010\/11\/01\/stephen-lawhead-s-the-skin-map-day-1\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Stephen Lawhead&#8217;s THE SKIN MAP &mdash; Day 1&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,4,67,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-sf-fantasy-blog-tour","category-stephen-lawhead","category-writing-conferences","category-writing-contests","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/51xrxfRvDmL._SX2501.jpg?fit=250%2C377","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p67v0M-1yC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.epictales.org\/treskillard\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}