CSFF Blog Tour: Fearless Day Three

So we finish up the blog tour for Robin Parrish's Fearless.

I admit, I've been sweating this entry simply because for a while, I was worried I'd have to admit that "I got nothing" (so sorry to the grammaticians out there). But as I thought about it tonight, I realized that I could say something. So bear with me and keep in mind, these are the rambling thoughts of a guy who hasn't read the book. If my thoughts don't intersect with Fearless in any way, it reflects poorly on me, not on Mr. Parrish.

You remember two days ago I said I wished I had read the books? Well, I thought about why tonight and I came to a realization. The reason why is because I can resonate with the basic plot of the books.

From what I understand, the basic premise of Parrish's books is that a group of people have discovered that they've been given special gifts and abilities. Just that idea alone is enough to pique my interest because really, who hasn't wished for specials gifts at one time. The plot resonates because it touches a deep desire within me.

And if you think about it, it's obvious that this plot resonates with a lot of other people as well. Look at the smash hit Heroes: ordinary people wake up one day to discover they have incredible powers and have to "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World." Or X-Men. Same basic idea, namely seemingly ordinary people given tremendous abilities.

Or think of the current literary juggernaut who's been dominating the world the past week or so, dear old Mr. Potter himself. I think part of the reason why those seven books have so captivated people's imagination is because of the way they kick off: an ordinary little boy finds out there's life beyond his cupboard beneath the stairs, to learn he has special gifts and abilities and possibly a heroic destiny.

These stories spark our imaginations because they touch on a deep seated yearning inside us. I want to be special. I want to have unique powers. I want to be a hero.

But usually, sadly, there's a counterpoint to that desire, one that drags us back to reality. The reason we yearn for that is because we believe, deep down, that we're not special. We have no unique powers. We're anything but heroic.

When we think that way, we've missed something important. It puts me in mind of 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, which reads:

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slave or free -- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

"Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body."

In other words, we may not all have incredible powers. We may not even think we have special powers. But we all have unique gifts given to us by our Lord.

More than that, we are all heroes in His eyes. Think of what Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:9 - "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Notice that Pete doesn't say some of you were chosen, a couple of you are royal priests, a minute quantity are God's own people. He says "you." All of you. Together. You're all chosen, royal priests belonging to God. To paraphrase a bit, you're all heroes.

Martin Luther once said (and I'm paraphrasing here; I really need to find this quote someday) that a housewife changing a dirty diaper is giving God as much glory as an archbishop giving a sermon. What he meant is that God is the one who has called us to be where and who we are. He has given us each unique gifts and abilities to carry out that calling, be it "superhero," pastor, writer, housewife, clergy, or whatever. We are heroes in God's eyes when we carry out that calling, using the gifts He's given, to the fullest of our potential.

You're all heroes. You all matter.

So there we go. Does it have anything to do with the book? Ya got me, I dunno. But that's the danger of giving a pastor an open forum.

Go check out what the other participants had to say:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Merrie Destefano
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John Ottinger
Lyn Perry
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver

Next month is Legend of the Firefish. Don't worry. I've placed my order with Amazon already. I (hopefully) won't have to wing it when we do this again.

CSFF Blog Tour: Fearless Day Two

We're continuing the tour for Fearless. Here are some of the websites I think you could check out:

Part of my deep regret at not reading this book series came from Valerie Comer, who posted the opening section of the book. A good hook is always needed to draw someone into a story. Robin Parrish has one. Just imagine how you'd feel if you saw yourself walking down the street!

Daniel I. Weaver shares his mixed feelings about the book, something that I understand all too well. I've been where he is and know how much it stinks.

Head on over to Speculative Faith and see what Blog Tour Overlord Rebecca LuElla Miller has to say about the odd marketing that Fearless has received.

And as always, there's Mir. I'm always intrigued by what she has to say and she doesn't disappoint this month with a thorough look at the book.

So there you have it. A few places you can check out for more information.

I have no idea what I'll do tomorrow. None whatsoever.

Be sure to check out the other participants:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Merrie Destefano
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John Ottinger
Lyn Perry
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver

CSFF Blog Tour: Fearless Day One

I've been a bad, bad boy.

Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, I have not read the book for this month's blog tour, which is Fearless by Robin Parrish.

Oh, I could make all sorts of excuses as to why, such as I couldn't get ahold of the books (since this is book two in a trilogy, you know). Or I could go for the sympathy factor and say that I had my appendix out recently and haven't been totally "with it" for two weeks (but really, that's no excuse since you don't need your appendix to read a book). Or I could say that my mind has been elsewhere (like Hogwarts).

But those aren't good enough.

I especially feel bad after seeing this:



After watching this trailer, I realized that this is the sort of book that I'd probably get a bang out of reading.

But this brings up an interesting question: when's the last time you saw a trailer for a book? When I interviewed Sharon Hinck back in April, she mentioned that her son was putting together a YouTube trailer for one of her books and that just struck me as odd. But then, after watching the trailer for the Fantasy Tour and now this one, it's making sense.

We need to get the word out about our often overlooked genres. If that means producing viral videos, so be it!

I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. Maybe some more grovelling. Or maybe I'll take a spin through the other blog tour participants and see what they're up to.

Of course, you can always steal my thunder by doing that now:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Merrie Destefano
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Lyn Perry
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Not fifteen minutes ago, I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I am under strict orders not to reveal any spoilers to my wife, who has yet to read it. And since I only read it so fast so as to avoid having hte plot ruined by on-line spoilers, I shall do my best to keep my review spoiler free.

I enjoyed this final book. I thought that Rowling did an admirable job tying up all the loose ends. She even did so reaching back through other books. There were a few times when I was absolutely bewildered as to what she was talking about; thankfully, she would then gently remind me and I would sit in my chair, stunned that she had pulled something out from that far back.

Turns out that my predictions about the plotline were waaaaay off. I only got one death prediction right (and then, I didn't get the circumstances right at all). Well, actually, come to think of it, I kind of saw another death coming but that one also didn't play out the way I thought it would.

What really struck me were the number of Christian references that pop up throughout the book. Rowling quotes two separate Bible verses in short order at one point. There's some parallels between Christ and Harry that I won't get into. I don't know if the latter is a Joseph Campbell Power of Myth kind of thing. Personally, I'm hoping that the rumors I've heard that Rowling is a Christian is true and she was tipping her hand a little.

Would I let my son read this book? Sure. But like all things, I'd want to be there to explain things and put it all into context. It'll be interesting to see what Rowling comes up with next. I have my doubts that she'll be able to top this, but I'm more than willing to giver her a chance.

The Myth of a Christian Nation

This one really shook me up. It should shake you up as well if you read it (and you really, really should).

The Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory A. Boyd is simply a must-read for all American Christians. Dr. Boyd brings up some very valid questions about how we conceive of the relationship between America and Christianity and the way he answers his own questions make a lot of sense.

Boyd's basic premise is this: there are two types of kingdoms. The first can be called the "kingdom of the world." Every government on earth, including America, falls into this category. Kingdoms of the world are concerned with "power over," i.e. exercising authority, making laws, controlling people either by the sword or by threat of the sword.

Jesus, on the other hand, came to establish, not a kingdom of the world, but the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is radically different from any kingdom of the world. The way Jesus described it was as a kingdom of "power under." Those who belong to this kingdom are to be servants of all, to take up their cross, not the sword.

Boyd's basic argument is that you can't mix the two kingdoms together and he fears that that's what mainline evangelical Christians are trying to do. By forcing "kingdom of God" concepts into the "kingdom of the world" (namely the U.S.), Boyd says that Christians are mixing the two improperly and worse, they're corrupting the teachings of Christ with political power.

Boyd's arguments are very persuasive. He says that rather than engaging in political activism, Christians should instead be about loving their neighbor. Instead of trying to force morality on people through laws, we should instead be loving them as Christ loved them.

I'm not doing justice to his arguments. To put it simply, Christians everywhere should read this book. I fear that the American church is guilty of equating God with America and that we have, in a very real way, created an idol out of the American flag. We need to realize that there is a difference between the two and that equating the two can only lead to trouble.

The Lutheran Handbook II

About two years ago, my brother got married. At the church where the ceremony was performed, I discovered a little book called The Lutheran Handbook. They had copies of this little blue book in every pew. The entire wedding party had a blast looking through it. I enjoyed what I saw so much I ordered a couple copies for myself. I thoroughly enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek look that the authors delivered on Lutheran culture as a whole but I also appreciated the thoughtful way that they handled some elements of Lutheran beliefs.

So you could imagine my delight when I found The Lutheran Handbook II! Thicker than its predecessor, this new edition promised to delve slightly deeper into Lutheran theology and not just tweak Lutheran foibles.

And, for the most part, I have to say that they did their job well. They had thoughtful articles on Luther's "two kingdoms" principle, they had a great glossary on objects that are used in Lutheran worship, they even had a section of lists in the back, like "Top 5 Monsters of the Bible."

But as much as I enjoyed it, I had a few minor complaints. The first might seem a little petty: they left out my seminary. In the first section of the book, they went over Lutheran colleges and seminaries. They listed every seminary the ELCA has, as well as the seminaries of WELS and the Lutheran Brethren, but they left both St. Louis and Fort Wayne off the list?

The other gripe I had is that the author, rather than try to be even-handed on every subject (which might have been a better idea) let his or her personal tastes show. In the article on "contemporary worship," they illustrated it with a smiling, happy, very friendly looking woman. In the article on traditional worship, they illustrated it with a dour-faced old man who looked more likely to bite you than talk to you. Is that really necessary? Not all of us who enjoy traditional worship are like that!

But for its few faults, this is still a great book for Lutherans and even for you non-Lutherans who are trying to figure us out.

Transformers

This afternoon I took in Transformers and I have to say, I'm not as horrified as I thought I'd be.

Let me explain why: I don't like it when people mess with my childhood memories. I loved the Transformers cartoon when it was on the air. I thought it was just a great show. The first DVD I bought after my wife got me a DVD player was the animated movie. When I heard they were doing a live action version, I was excited at first but grew more and more tentative. I mean, George Lucas didn't do right by his own creation. How would Michael Bay do with someone else's?

I'm pleased to report, I think he did pretty well. The movie was mostly eye-candy (big explosions, huge robots duking it out, and a pretty girl who falls in love with a geek. Yes, they understand the audience all too well), but there were still some sweet moments and Bay worked in some decent comedy as well.

I have to say, I was a bit upset at the trailers when I didn't hear the classic transforming noise (yes, I'm a geeky fanboy, so sue me). But I think I caught an updated version of it a few times.

And how awesome is it that they got Peter Cullen to do the voice of Optimus Prime? That alone helped a great deal bridge the old cartoons with this modern update. Once again, outing myself as a geeky fanboy, when I realized that Sam and Mikhaila were about to meet Prime, I got chills.

My only real gripe with this movie was that they could have easily split the plot into two separate movies and it might have made things a little less chaotic at the end of the movie. I don't want to say too much because I hate spoilers personally and don't want to be responsible for spreading any, but suffice it to say you could have had two separate quest movies out of this one, the first for a person (or large robot, as it were), the second for a certain McGuffin that shall remain nameless.

It's pretty obvious by the ending that they're leaving the door open for a sequel. If it turns out anything like this movie, they'll have a pretty decent franchise on their hands.

The Children of Hurin

I just want to start this review by saying that I am a Tolkein fan. I look forward to reading The Hobbit to my son. I loved both the book and the movie versions of The Lord of the Rings. That being said, I'm less than impressed with The Children of Hurin (and yes, I know I'm misspelling that; I don't know how to do the accent over the "u").

I can understand, given the interest that all things Middle-Earth draw, why Christopher Tolkien would edit together these tales from the extensive back story that his father created for his tales. Die-hard Tolkien fans would probably devour these tales and spend hours or even days debating their intricacies. Sadly, it is those very intricacies that will make this book largely inaccessible to the general public.

Worse, the only reason why this book got published is because of the recent success that Tolkien has enjoyed. If an unknown fantasy author (such as myself) tried to publish this work, I'd be more than willing to bet that all they'd get is a stack of rejections.

Reading this book hammered home some valuable lessons when it comes to writing:

1) Show, don't tell! For the love of the Valar, Tolkien, stop telling and start showing! There were large sections of the story where Tolkien just summed everything up and didn't show us what happened. There was one passage, where Turin has an argument with an elf (I think the elf's name was Saeros, but I might be wrong), where he just told, told, told. I wanted to shake the book and scream, "You could show this scene so much better! Give me some descriptions, fer cryin' out loud!"

It leads me to wonder if Tolkien ever really intended for these stories to see the light of day. Perhaps if he had, he would have put a little more effort into fleshing out the scenes and making them a bit more lively. As it is, this read like an after-action report and not so much as an engaging story.

2) Careful with the names. Okay, it's a feather in Tolkien's cap that he created umpteen-million fake languages. It's absolutely mind-boggling to me that he invented vocabulary, grammar, and so on. But that also works against him. I got very frustrated more than once when I came across words that were basically strung-together consonants with a few vowels peppered between. I couldn't figure out how to pronounce those words and so I shuddered every time I came across them.

And also, I get that Turin moved around a lot, but for crying out loud. The man accumulated about a dozen names and switched back and forth between them regularly. I had to keep checking the glossary to make sure I was tracking with the story.

3) Don't assume too much. One of the real problems I had with this book is that it assumed that the reader was familiar with most, if not all, of the backstory of Middle-Earth. News flash: not all of us are. A lot of names and concepts got tossed around in the story that made very little sense to me. Once again, the glossary saved me because I could find a terse explanation of what those concepts or people were. But still, I shouldn't have to have a glossary to follow a story.

It's not that I didn't like the book. I did up to a point. But really, I don't think my enjoyment of Tolkien's other books was increased by reading it.

So if you're a die-hard Tolkien-o-phile, by all means, read this one. If you're not, save yourself the time and headache and give it a miss.

Irruption

What's that? A book you've never heard of? No, it's actually a short story that I've written, which has just been published at Dragons, Knights, and Angels. Here's where you can find it.

The blurb on the contents page is admittedly a little weak, but I had fun writing this story and I hope y'all enjoy it.

Skin

I recently finished reading Skin by Ted Dekker.

I've read most of Dekker's books. There are a few I haven't gotten to yet. By and large, this is a pretty good book. The story is complex and keeps you guessing as to what is actually happening. I had the major plot figured out about halfway through, but I do that. I overanalyze books and try to figure out the plot. This time it worked. Next time it might not.

The story is basically about a killer named Sterling Red (what is with Dekker naming his villains after colors?) who has five people trapped in a small town outside Las Vegas. These five people have some sort of connection with Red and he's out to punish them for some past misdeed. He engages them in a deadly game where they have to determine who the ugliest is and then kill that individual. But since this is a Dekker story, you know it's not as simple as that.

For the most part, I enjoyed this story. It's not as blatantly Christian as some of Dekker's other work. As a matter of fact, aside from some references about beauty and ugliness that's kind of Christian and a few references to snakes, this book could probably pass as a secular thriller. I'm not complaining about that; I think it's fine if an author who usually writes Christian stories stretches his or her legs in the secular realm once in a while.
What bugged me about this book is that Dekker can't seem to break free from his Circle Trilogy. He had the same problem in Showdown, only it's not as pronounced in Skin. Dekker can't seem to get his mind out of those previous books. If you've read the Circle Trilogy, you'll recognize elements of it in the story. Thankfully, a person who hasn't read the Circle Trilogy can still get into this story and follow it, but I just wish that Dekker would write a book that didn't in some way reference the trilogy (although that'll be a good trick; according to a blurb in the back of the book, Dekker's next four books are a continuation of the Circle Trilogy!).

Perhaps the one thing that bugs me the most about this book is the fact has such broad overarching science fiction elements. I can't get more specific than that without revealing some major spoilers, but I can't help but wonder why so much of the CBA is so closed to sci-fi and yet Dekker can publish this. Doesn't seem fair, but then, I suppose, most sci-fi authors don't have the track record of Dekker.

So I guess if you like a good thriller, this book won't let you down. But if you're looking for a blatant Christian message, it's probably better to read something else.

CSFF July Blog Tour: The Fantasy Four Book Tour

No, it's not the Fantastic Four (although they are all pretty fantastic). It's the Fantasy Fiction Tour. Four authors of Christian speculative fiction traveling up the East Coast to let people know, "Hey! There's more to Christian fiction than romance novels and cozy mysteries!" Not that there's anything wrong with romance novels and cozies ... oh, shoot. I fear that I've put my foot in my mouth this time.

Er.... Okay! I need a distraction, and what better distraction than flashy moving pictures.

But I'm going to make it challenging. One of the following videos is about the Fantasy Fiction Tour. One isn't. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which is which.

Yeah, it's a puzzler, I know...