Halloween Special from The Crossover Alliance: Adverse Possession by Jess Hanna

To celebrate Halloween, The Crossover Alliance have reduced the price of one of their novels, Adverse Possession.

For this weekend and ending on Monday 31/10/16, this novel is $0.99, available in electronic formats of ePub, Mobi, Kindle AZW3, and PDF.

Click on the title below to take advantage of this offer and be blessed with Jess' novel.

Adverse Possession tells the tale of The Forresters, Andy and Tess and their children. They have found their dream home… but so has something else.

After years of moving from place to place, Andy and Tess are ready to settle down. But from the day they moved into the sprawling Victorian house, something just wasn't right.

The power cuts out twice a day on a fixed schedule. Windows unlock and open on their own. Strange scratching sounds come from behind the walls.

As the bizarre occurrences continue to increase in frequency and strength, the true source of the extraordinary activity is revealed.

What started as an enchanting curiosity has become a danger to them all, and the Forresters are in a race against time to save their family from an enemy unlike anything they have ever known.

I have read and reviewed this book and it is one of my favourite Christian horror stories. It is highly entertaining, scary yes, but also gives a welcome education in biblical spiritual warfare, it honours God, strengthens and uplifts the Christian's faith and gives those dabbling in the occult something to think about.

 Here is my review from November 2013, to whet your appetites:

I first read this before it was published as an advanced readers copy from Jess. I had not written a review after reading it, just emailed the author my thoughts and impressions. It was only after starting this blog and checking my reviews on Amazon, that I realised I had not honoured Jess with an official review. To do so would mean reading this again. This was also another excuse to revisit this novel.

I was taken in then and am just as taken in now. This is even better the second time round!

This novel was the second horror story I had ever read and was read soon after the first which was Something Stirs by Thomas Smith. Both books are written by Christian authors and both deal with haunted houses by demons and deal with demon possession. Both also deal with these topics using spiritual warfare as outlined in the bible. But enough of the comparison between these two books, however, I must say they compliment each other very well, and both are a credit to each author. It was both these two authors and their horror stories that have convinced me that Christian authors have just as much or even more ability to write convincing horror especially when it is based on the source of horror as documented in the Bible, through the fall of satan and the other angels and their transformation into evil entities and their maleficent, deceptive and manipulative intentions in our lives.

Hanna has set a nice, even pace in the first half of this novel, introducing the characters, establishing the family dynamics, moving into and settling into the house, while interspersing certain incidents that, while not at first deemed to be demonic activity or out of the ordinary, but soon increase in frequency and become more bizarre, leading to Andy and Tess believing that something supernatural is occurring and is definitely of a malevolent nature as evidenced by the disruption to their lives and the effects its oppression on their personalities and relationships. 

The second half of the novel definitely has a faster pace with the activity of the supernatural increasing, now being identified as a demon spirit that has its sights set on Alexis to possess and control. Hanna definitely adds more clues and explanation to what this demon is, why it is here, what its motivation is and as it possesses Alexis more and more, its power and activity is more extensive and destructive to Alexis, Tess, Andy and Jonathan. The parents try everything they know or think of to rid themselves and their house of this demon, including a paranormal investigator and his family. All this does is make things worse, ridding the house of the demon but then inviting more of them to inhabit the house and possess Alexis even more. This is very biblical as the bible states that if a demon is exorcised and the person not then inhabited by God's presence/Spirit, more demons come and inhabit the person.

The attempts by the local Catholic priest to rid these demons does nothing except to cause his death, increase the demons power and the despair of Andy and Tess. However, through this priest, Hanna introduces the origin of these demons, and it seems to be linked to Tess's past, namely that of the sins of her alcoholic father being passed onto through subsequent generations. Again, this is biblical as the bible states that the sins of the fathers are passed on through the third and fourth generations.

One could wonder what could happen next to rid the house of these demons. Here Hanna introduces the biblical principle of spiritual warfare in the form of Tess' mother, Claire, who is a Christian and after being told what has been happening, realises that the only way to end this is through prayer and using the authority of Jesus as outlined in the Bible. Her first attempts have limited success, not due to this bible truth being ineffective, but due to her emotions blocking her faith, but her attempt does evoke a defensive, defiant and aggressive response from the demons. It is obvious from this reaction that the demons are threatened by the mention of God and Jesus. It is here that she realises she has no choice but to involve the services of her Pastor.

Hanna progresses the spiritual warfare principles here by preparing the Pastor with prayer, submission to God, and obedience to His will. On my first reading of this novel, I did not realise this Pastor was the same as that of Hanna's first novel, The Road To Hell!! This is a welcome connection to this previous novel and adds strength to the plot and characterisation.

From this point on, Hanna really shines with the spiritual warfare aspects. The way Pastor Tom prepares Andy to be the one to break the demonic power over Alexis and his family is very well done and give honour and credence to the Bible and God's power and sovereignty. Again, he has followed biblical principles where the power and authority over demons can only be given to someone who has accepted Jesus as Saviour and repented of their sin and been forgiven and born again spiritually. The scene in the novel where Pastor Tom encourage Andy to accept Jesus as Saviour in order to defeat the demons is a real cliff hanger as Hanna portrays Andy's confusion, despair and frustration very well. I started to cheer Andy on with this, knowing the truth of the bible in this matter!! 

Hanna has created the ending of this novel to be fast paced on its own, the final confrontation between the power and authority of God against this demon. It is totally absorbing and very descriptive. It reads like a movie scene as it is played out in the reader's mind. This is the most horrifying part of the novel and the most dramatic. 

If someone was to ask what Christian horror is like, this novel could be presented to answer that question. 

Highly Recommended.  5/5 Stars

Here is that link again to the Crossover Alliance for Adverse Possession:
http://www.thecrossoveralliance.com/adverse-possession

The Crossover Alliance Publishing Company Grand Opening

We are so incredibly excited to announce the launch of The Crossover Alliance, a unique online publishing company specializing in edgy Christian speculative fiction. Authors who enjoy writing Christ-themed speculative fiction containing real-world content now have a home for their manuscripts. With our Grand Opening finally here, there's a lot of exciting news we would like to share with all of you!

The Crossover Alliance seeks to put to rest the conundrum that many readers and writers face: a book is either too Christian for the secular market, or it's too secular for the Christian market. There are hordes of readers and writers caught in this limbo, and The Crossover Alliance wants to be a place where people can find gritty, edgy books that rest on solid Biblical principles. We shouldn't glorify the darkness but we shouldn't be afraid of it, either, nor should we be afraid of it in the books we read. The Crossover Alliance will bring you the most intense, hardest-hitting books the Christian market has ever seen, and we hope you'll join us in this adventure.

Breaking the Rules of Christian Fiction by David Alderman

Today I would like to allow David Alderman, author and founder of The Crossover Alliance to talk to you about this Alliance and its exciting new venture. But before I do, I would like to explain why I am doing this. 

Not too long ago, I came across a book, Black Earth: End of the Innocence by David Alderman and I was intrigued by the mix of genres: fantasy, science fiction, supernatural, alien invasion, demons, apocalyptic. Little did I know then that I was reading a book in a new genre, edgy Christian speculative fiction. I loved the Black Earth series (my review of this book can be found here) and then realised I loved this new genre. Soon after, I was asked by David to join his new community, The Crossover Alliance, and this introduced me to more books in this genre. It has been encouraging seeing it transform "from community to website to, now, an online publishing company" to quote David.

I have read some great books from the authors in this new company, such Mark Carver, Jess Hanna, Nathan James Norman and Donovan Martin Neal. This has motivated me to seek out others as well. This review blog contains a  lot of my reviews from this genre. Now, I am a strong supporter of edgy Christian speculative fiction from reading and reviewing these books and getting involved. I enjoy the real world content, the Christian worldview, the depiction of Christian characters being real, not being shy in showing their flaws, their failings, their struggle with faith, coping with real life situations and showing God for who He is and that He is still relevant in today's secular and humanistic world.

I will now let David speak about this new Publishing company, how it was formed, what it means for the future of Christian fiction and to encourage readers and authors reading this to consider supporting us in raising funds to get this Company up and running and making a positive impact in the world of Christian fiction and beyond.

                                   Breaking the Rules of Christian Fiction

A few weeks back, we ended our Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for The Crossover Alliance – an online publishing company specializing in edgy Christian speculative fiction. Our goal was $10,000 to cover expenses – including editing, cover design, web fees, etc. – for our first year’s catalog. We hit $1870 before the end of the campaign. With Kickstarter it’s an all-or-nothing deal, so we walked away from the campaign with nothing of monetary value.
 

It wasn’t really a tough pill to swallow because I know that our company is trying to establish a market in a genre that is fairly new and mostly unheard of. All this time, Christian fiction has followed an established set of rules: no cursing, no sexual content, no taboos, no violence, no questionable themes. This isn’t to say that there aren’t great Christian titles out there hiding from the naysayers and critics because of the ‘edgy’ content found within, they just have to be found and coaxed to come out to a welcoming readership.

I used to write PG-rated Christian fiction. Young adult PG-rated Christian fiction, actually, and I enjoyed doing so. But most of the time I was writing, I was always wondering where certain scenes could have really gone had I stepped over the boundaries that the young-adult – or even the Christian fiction – genre called for. What if I wrote my character to use real-world terminology when they were upset or in a feud with someone else? What if my side characters engaged in activities that many in the Christian community would find heinous to even speak about? What if instead of cookie-cutter vanilla bad guys – such as the Devil, more three-dimensional villains rose to the top of the tale?

During National Novel Writing Month back in 2007, I was working on a short story anthology connected to my young adult series. I decided to let one of the stories take me where it wanted to take me, show me what it wanted to show me. I removed the boundaries and I bounded into the fiction wilderness with safeties off and caution hanging in the wind.

What I found was astounding.

A very short story called Black Earth came from the experiment, a story about Earth’s destruction by alien and demonic forces.

When I was finished writing the story, I knew there was more to it, more that was hidden off the page, waiting to be revealed. I sat down after NaNoWriMo and wrote out Black Earth: End of the Innocence, the first (of four novels) in my Black Earth series. The story did a number on me, because I wasn’t used to writing with the censor locked in a closet. Themes of violence and sacrifice, non graphic sexual content, and a dash of coarse language had made it into the story and revealed a beautifully dark and haunting beginning to my groundbreaking novel series.

Six years later I’m about to cut the red ribbon and introduce the public to The Crossover Alliance, a publishing company specializing in edgy Christian speculative fiction – Christ-centered speculative fiction with real-world content. End of the Innocence is one of the first five books our company will be publishing before the end of the year, and I can’t believe how far I’ve come not just as a writer but as someone who ‘broke the rules’.
 


There seems to be a stigma for Christians who break the rules. Many are accused of doing so simply to perform the act of breaking the rules. But Christianity – in our society – can seem extremely sheltering at times, and to break the rules can enable one to look beyond the way they were raised and the beliefs they were raised in and find Christ’s truth through scripture and a relationship with God. This truth goes beyond the status quo and beyond the rules that publishing companies, our colleagues, friends and even our families have set up.

Edgy Christian speculative fiction breaks that box of rules and offers up a fresh look at Christian fiction. At times, the stories that embody this new genre can seem like Rated-R movies, but if you look squarely at the core purpose of these stories, it is to show the light of Christ against the backdrop of a very dark world. The secular themes, the edgy content, the sometimes horrific premises, offer to merge a Christ-centered message into a story that readers can find themselves absorbed in and take seriously. 

I don’t give up easily. Most times I don’t give up at all. While the Kickstarter campaign didn’t raise the money needed for my Plan A business structure, I now have an Indiegogo campaign – http://www.igg.me/at/TCA - to raise funds for my Plan B business structure. Please head to the link and check out the team, the mission, and the rewards you can score for pledging to this cause. This world needs more ‘real’ fiction like edgy Christian speculative fiction, and I hope you’ll join me in my efforts to spread the word about this unique and much-needed and wanted genre.
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David N. Alderman is an indie author of two speculative fiction series—Black Earth and Expired Reality. You can find all of David’s work at http://www.davidnalderman.com. He is also the founder of The Crossover Alliance (http://www.thecrossoveralliance.com), a publishing company specializing in edgy Christian speculative fiction. He participates in National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org) each year. When he’s not writing or spending time with family, you can find David gaming on any number of different consoles.