The Grand Crusade

I finished Michael Stackpole's The Grand Crusade the other night. I'd like to say that the end of the DragonCrown War Cycle is a slam dunk, but in some ways, it left me with the same disappointed aftertaste it did when I read it the first time.

Part of the reason why is because of Stackpole's lengthy descriptions of battles. I marvel at his attention to tactical detail and wonder how he plans them out so vividly (although I do wonder if maybe he gives us a hint as to how when he said that Alexia based her Dream Raid visions on historical battles, just set in a new location). The problem is that it's so much exposition that it gets a little wearing.

The other problem, and I remember this clearly from the first time I read it, was the introduction of the Oromise as the motivation for Chytrine's mad quest to conquer the world. There's little explanation of her motivation in the previous three books. There's only a hint of the Oromise in the previous. But now, suddenly, we're suddenly awash in backstory that was a little overwhelming. In short, it should have been mentioned or at least hinted at from the very beginning.

But let's be clear. That doesn't invalidate what's good about this book and there is a lot. The final defeat of the Empress of Aurolan comes at a price for our heroes and it all is constructed very well.

When Dragons Rage

Late last night I finished re-reading When Dragons Rage by Michael Stackpole.

The on-going war with Chytrine has hit sometihng of a speedbump. Kedyn's Crow's secret has been revealed to the world and now his friends must save him from execution at the hands of the cowardly King Scrainwood. In the meantime, General Adrogans fights to liberate Okrannel from Chytrine's forces even as the northern empress's troops ravage the once mighty Fortress Draconis.

Even after those initial threats are resolved, things spin out of control. What will happen as Will Norrington and his band of friends are summoned to help a country under assault by Chytrine's forces? What will happen when Chytrine springs an unexpected trap on Adrogans? And can Prince Erlestoke make it south from Fortress Draconis with a precious fragment of the DragonCrown? Or will Chytrine claim that piece as well?

I could keep describing the plot, because there's a lot of layers to it. There's Kerrigan Reese, the Vilwan Adept who learns more and more about the nature of magick from a mysterious tutor. There is Isaura, Chytrine's daughter, who seems a bit conflicted about her mother's predations.

But there is one thing that I realized I haven't touched on, the thing that makes this book series so fascinating: the introduction of dragonels.

In The Dark Glory War, we're presented with a medieval society. Bows and arrows, swords and cavalry, all that sort of thing. Then, toward the end of the book, Chytrine introduces a new weapon that tips the balance of power. Stackpole calls it a dragonel. We know it better as a cannon.

A large part of the plot of this book is the introduction of gunpowder-based weapons into a world of sword and sorcery. How do people cope with this new technology? How do people react to dragonels and draconettes (black-powder rifles)?

Once agian, this reveals Stackpole's strength when it comes to world building. He creates a world with its own logic and then upends everything by introducing a new element.

So I've got one book left in the trilogy. I can't wait to read it again. And if you haven't read Stackpole before, go get his books. Trust me. It'll be worth it.

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day Three

Once again, gentle readers, we come to the end of another blog tour. We've examined The Return by Austin Boyd. I realize I may have been a bit negative yesterday but it was said out of love. I really loved these books and I really enjoyed seeing some sci-fi concepts trotted out in a Christian book. It made me want to stand up and shout, "See! It can work!"

I suppose what might put some people off from these books is that it deals with aliens. Christians tend to shy away from that subject and with good reason. Christian author Jefferson Scott (aka Jeff Gerke) did a "white paper" on this business called "UFOs and the Christian Worldview" that I found fascinating. But still, what about them aliens? Could they be real? Is it possible that God created intelligent life somewhere out there?

From where I'm sitting, the possibility is open. There's nothing in the Bible that precludes the possibility so far as I'm concerned. The universe is exceedingly vast and could contain planets on which life could not only exist, but thrive. The other day, MSN had a slideshow about extrasolar planets, including the recent discovery of a planet that orbited its star in a habitable zone. Could there be life there? There's really no reason for a Christian to say "No" or "Yes" definitively for reasons of theology.

But let's just suppose for a moment that intelligent life does exist. How would said sentient beings fit into God's salvation history?

Well, C.S. Lewis certainly had one answer. In his Space Trilogy, Lewis posited that each planet would have an "Eden" period where the denizens of said planet would be tempted. They would either resist or fall on their own. If they resisted, they would mature past the temptation period and continue in an unfallen state (such as the people of Perelandra).

But what would happen if they fell into sin? Lewis does some speculating on that subject in an essay called "Religion and Rocketry" (which is contained in the book The World's Last Night). He says that in that case, the fallen species would be visited by Christ and redeemed in a way that was significant to them. It may not involve death and resurrection as we know it, but it would redeem them from their sin.

That's certainly a fun possibility. But what if it worked the other way? What if humanity's fall dragged the rest of the intelligent species down with us? What if they all suddenly fell into sin?

I would suspect that humanity's redemption would be the alien's redemption as well. I even think Romans 8:19-21 could support this view.

To put it in terms of a human analogy, suppose you have a series of light bulbs wired together in a circuit. My understanding of electrical engineering is admittedly basic, but I do know that if one lightbulb burns out, the rest of them would go dark as well. The current would be interrupted by the burned out bulb. But if you replace the burned out bulb and light it up again, the rest would burn brightly as well. I think that's the way it could work with intelligent alien life. Our bulb burned out, theirs all went dark. Our bulb was replaced, theirs can now burn brightly again.

Granted, all of this is speculation. I'm dancing on the end of a very thin tree branch right now and it could snap off under me. But isn't the possibility intriguing?

If you agree, then write to Christian publishers and tell them to take a look at my sci-fi trilogy, because it's based on that crazy speculation that I just spilled out here. ;-)

Yes, I know, shameless plug. But Austin Boyd's book stirred up some intellectual curiousity in me again and I know he can do the same for you.

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog tour:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Merrie Destefano or Alien Dream
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Lyn Perry
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day Two

So today I'm going to talk about the 2 1/2 things that bothered me about The Return by Austin Boyd. In this discussion, spoilers are going to be zinging around like crazy. You have been warned. If you haven't read the books and don't want the plot to be ruined, especially the ending of the story, stop reading now. Jump down to the bottom and go visit the other blog tour participants or something. Come back after you've read and enjoyed the books and see if you agree with me. I won't be offended. Honest.

Okay, now that they're gone, let's talk about the things that bugged me about the way the trilogy ended.

First of all, there's what I call the Joseph Dodge. At the end of The Proof, Amy Wells and her children, the family of hero John Wells, are supposedly killed when a terrorist shoots down a helicopter carrying them and the Vice President. John is crushed by their deaths.

But hold on! It turns out that Amy and company aren't really dead! Look-alikes had taken their place and the real Wells family were spirited off to a compound run by the nefarious Father Malcolm Raines.

I have to say, when I first read that, I was salivating. I loved it. Why had Raines spared Amy? My mind filled in the blanks: earlier in The Proof, Amy had smashed Raines in a televised debate about his beliefs concerning the Father Race. Perhaps Raines, rather than be infuriated, was attracted to Amy's fire. Perhaps he had her kidnaped so he could work his charm on her and possibly try to claim her as his own.

But then it was revealed that it was the Father Race (or rather, the people behind the Father Race) who wanted Amy Wells kidnaped. And so I speculated as to why that would be. Perhaps they knew that John, after making the journey home from Mars alone, wouldn't return to the red planet and so they "killed" his family so he'd have nothing left and the way would be clear for him to return. Why did they want him back there? I had no idea but couldn't wait to find out.

So what did I find out? Nothing. Boyd never wrapped up this plotline. He never explained what the motivation was for faking the death of Amy Wells and family and keeping them alive. Oh, sure, God wanted it to happen so Amy could witness to Monique and then all the clone girls could be saved, but that's not why Malcolm Raines or the Father Race would want them kidnaped.

Worse than that, Boyd drew a big red circle around this lack of motive not once, but twice, by likening the situation to Joseph in Egypt (the first time in the story itself, the second in the faux article in the appendix). Truth be told, I hadn't noticed the lack of motive until Boyd pointed it out. That only made me frustrated because as I finished the book, I was left asking, "Hey yeah! What was that all about?"

From where I'm sitting, going to the trouble of saving Amy Wells and keeping her and her children alive for six years (if memory serves) makes no sense unless the bad guys had a larger purpose. If they had one, we should know what it is.

Besides, the Joseph connection doesn't really pan out. Yes, Joseph's brothers meant Joseph's slavery for evil, just as the Father Race people meant Amy's kidnaping for evil as well. But the difference is, we know why Joseph's brothers did what they did! We're told what their motive is, which makes the revelation that God intended it for good so much more powerful.

As it stands, the Joseph Dodge in The Return seems more like a deus ex machina than anything else. Why did they spare Amy Wells? What was their reasoning? I'll never know, unfortunately, and that left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth.

The second thing I didn't like didn't help either, and that's what I call the 3-2-1 Muddle.

Already in The Evidence, we learn that whoever is behind the whole plot has an obsession with the numerical sequence of 3-2-1. John Wells comes up with a whole list of 3-2-1 appearances in the end of The Return.

As I was reading the trilogy, I was expecting some sort of evil genius to be behind the whole plot, someone for whom the 3-2-1 sequence had special meaning. That's why the number kept popping up everywhere. Whoever was doing it was putting his or her signature on every event, either for spiritual reasons (it has to be there for it to work) or for egomaniacal reasons ("I'm signing my name to every event and no one will figure it out!"). I thought maybe this individual was doing this because he believed himself to be descended of the Father Race and was going to populate Mars with people made in his own image.

But then we find out the whole plot was cooked up by the Chinese in the end of the book. They sponsored the terrorist attacks. They built the spiderwalkers. They funded Raines's cult. They helped create the clones and were going to harvest them for biotechnological research. At the same time, we found out that Rex Edwards was the one who was obsessed with 3-2-1, yet as near as I could tell, Edwards was just a harmless dupe, a true believer in the Father Race who was used by the Chinese government to perpetrate this massive fraud.

When I learned that, I think I nearly drowned in cognitive dissonance. If Rex Edwards had been the egomaniacal individual behind the cult, behind the aliens, behind everything, then the 3-2-1 fingerprint would make sense. But if the Chinese were ultimately responsible, why would they orchestrate everything so it centers around 3-2-1? It wouldn't make sense for them.

I almost got the impression that Boyd intended to hang the blame on Rex Edwards, but then sometime between The Proof and The Return, he had a change of heart. He didn't want to do that to Rex for whatever reason and shifted the blame to the Chinese. I don't know that's what he did for sure, but it felt that way.

Here's part of the reason why the Chinese as the perpetrators doesn't sit well with me: the plot is too grandiose! If all they were after was a leg up on the biotechnology boom, why go through the elaborate hoax? Why reveal their 321 clones to the world when they know that Western nations might object? Why create fake aliens the way they did? Sure, it might damage Christianity in China, but if the hoax is revealed, wouldn't that have the opposite effect?

It just didn't sit well with me. I would much rather have found out that Rex Edwards, mad with power and money, was behind the whole plot because to me, that would have made more sense.

And the half-gripe I have, well, it doesn't have a fancy name. It's just this: I wish that Boyd hadn't lifted the curtain on the hoax right away. It might have made the ride a little more interesting if he didn't reveal the nature of the aliens so early. It would have been more fun, I think, if he left the possibility that the aliens were real open and only revealed how the whole plot hung together in the last book.

It'd be kind of like my favorite Christian novel, A Skeleton in God's Closet. In that book, a group of archaeologists discover what they believe is the mortal remains of Jesus Christ. Throughout the whole book, the reader is left hoping that it all turns out to be fake, but Dr. Paul Maier, the author, doesn't let you off the hook until the very end. It ratcheted up the tension for the book because you're always asking yourself, "What if it's real? How could it be real? Where's he going with this?"

I think the same might have helped the Mars Hill Classified Series a little. If we were left to wonder if the aliens were real or not, it would have made the grand reveal of the plotters in the end that much more exciting and climactic.

Now, having said all this, that doesn't mean that I didn't like the books. I loved them. I'm glad I read them. I just wish things had been a little more tight in the last book so I wouldn't be left thinking, "I liked these books, but...." I just wish I could get rid of that "but."

But enough from me. Go check out what the other participants are up to:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Merrie Destefano or Alien Dream
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Lyn Perry
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day One

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time once again for the monthly Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour. This month, we're focusing on the book The Return by Austin Boyd, the third book in the Mars Hill Classified trilogy. Seeing as this is book three, we should really talk about books one and two first, right? Right.

The story starts with a literal bang in The Evidence. It's 2011 and terrorists launch a series of attacks on a number of Air Force bases linked to monitoring space launches as well as Washington, D.C. It would appear that the attacks were perpetrated by Iranian terrorists and soon, there's the usual saber rattling going around as people try to bring them to justice.

But things only get stranger. Out of nowhere, a signal from Mars originates from Mars that scientists believe is the Viking 1 lander. But when they decode the signal, they realize that it's actually a picture of the lander, something that should be impossible. Could it be that there are aliens on Mars, broadcasting that image?

That seems to be the beliefs of Father Malcolm Raines, a charismatic prophet who preaches that the aliens will soon send a message to the people of earth. And sure enough, an alien probe whizzes by the earth and broadcasts just such a message. That's followed by the appearance of two strange alien landers on Mars.

Caught in the middle of all the excitement is astronaut John Wells and his family. John isn't quite sure what to make of all the idea that there really is intelligent life out there, especially when the message of Malcolm Raines conflicts with John's Christian faith. But what can he do when all the evidence points in that direction?

Book two, namely The Proof, picks up where the first book left off. John is on his way to Mars to see if the aliens are real. But it turns out that he didn't have to travel that far. The aliens show up on Earth, popping up in metallic spider walkers. And Father Malcolm Raines is able to predict every appearance. Could it be that Raines's belief that the aliens are really humanity's Father Race is true?

But John can't focus on that. He's got his hands full shepherding his crewmates, Michelle and Sean. He has to be their eyes in the sky while they investigate Mars, meeting the spider walkers and looking for water and life. But then disaster strikes on the way home. The reader thrills with John as he tries to return home with the proof, only to be devastated when he actually does return by a shocking attack.


And that brings us to the third and final book, The Return.

John Wells returns to Mars as part of a larger expedition, only to discover that he and his fellow explorers are not alone. What he doesn't realize is that his family is in the clutches of the nefarious Father Malcolm Raines. The story that started in The Evidence comes to a pulse-pounding end as John unravels exactly what's been going on.

I really enjoyed this trilogy. In many ways, it reminded me of Tom Clancy's novels, especially the first book with the terrorist attacks. Austin Boyd, a NASA astronaut finalist, is able to bring a level of authenticity to the story. You can see this possibly happening and that's what makes it such a rip-roaring ride.

I think this is great proof that Christians can produce some killer science fiction (and I'm not just saying that because I have a sci-fi trilogy of my own sitting on a bookshelf, waiting for the day the market is a bit more receptive. Nope, not at all). While there were moments where it felt like Boyd was getting on a soap box and preaching at the wrong moments, those were few and far between and certainly didn't detract from the story as a whole. It was an exciting ride from beginning to end.

That being said, I do have two major gripes about the story, especially how it unfolded in The Return. I won't go into that today because to do so, I'd have to reveal some major spoilers (which I realize I kind of did with my reviews of all three books, but c'mon, it's hard not to do that). Tomorrow I'll dissect those two flaws and reveal a third, minor complaint.

In the meantime, go visit my fellow blog tourians:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Merrie Destefano or Alien Dream
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Lyn Perry
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Fortress Draconis

It's a generation after the events of The Dark Glory War. The previous set of heroes that set out to oppose Chytrine, the evil queen of the north, have been turned to her side and serve as her generals. Now a new group of heroes must rise and oppose them lest the entire world be overrun with evil.

I just love Michael Stackpole books.

Fortress Draconis continues the struggle against Aurolani forces and expands on the world exponentially. Whereas The Dark Glory War focused solely on the adventures of Tarrant Hawkins, this book has a cast of dozens and many branches of the same story.

For example, there's the story of Will the Nimble, an orphan thief who is brought out of the ghetto known as the Dimandowns by a Vorquelf named Resolute and a man known simply as Kedyn's Crow and learns of his grander destiny, one that he simply cannot avoid. Then there's Kerrigan, the Vilwanese Adept, possibly the most powerful wizard alive, who desperately needs to mature as he leaves his island sanctuary. Add to the mix Princess Alyx and her Gyrkyme "sister" Perri, two warriors caught up in the struggle to free Alyx's home country. Throw in General Adrogans, a seemingly pompous military genius, overlay it all with political intrigue, and build it on a rich backstory with some very sharp wit, and you have an engaging read that will keep you rooting for the good guys to crush Chytrine.

My one gripe (and I brought this up in my review of The Dark Glory War) is that if you've read that book (and you almost have to), you know one of the "big secrets" in this book from the very beginning. The reveal on the last page is somewhat anticlimactic because of that. Maybe you could read Fortress Draconis first and then The Dark Glory War. It's hard to say.

But that's not to say that it completely ruins the story. There's no way it could. Once again, Stackpole creates a rich world that hangs together very well with engaging characters who are set on opposing their evil nemesis. You can't go wrong with an epic story like that.

Finish Line

96,280 words. 379 pages. 50 chapters plus an introduction. And I call this monstrosity The Return of the Mourning Dove.

That's right, I finished the first draft of my novel not five minutes ago!

It feels good to be done, although I worry that most of what I've produced is garbage and unsalvagable.

But on the plus side, this has got to be the fastest I've ever written a book (not that I've produced too many). I think I started in the last week of July and had set a deadline of finishing by the end of September, so I'm actually two weeks early.

So what now? Now's the easiest part of writing for me: the cooling off period. I'm going to set the manuscript aside for a few months. That way I can come back to it with a critical eye ... say, around Christmas or so. I already know that two scenes have to be completely redone and one has to be added. And I'm worried that all sorts of plotholes lurk within its pages.

But I gotta say, it still feels pretty good to be done.

The Dark Glory War

So I guess I'm back on my Michael Stackpole kick again. Two days ago, I finished reading The Dark Glory War.

This is actually a prelude to his DragonCrown War Cycle (which I just started rereading) and sets up the event of that trilogy.

In this book, Tarrant Hawkins and his friends, Leigh Norrington, Naysmith Carver, and Rounce Playfair, become men at a pivotal moment in history. The forces of Chytrine, the evil queen of the north, have been found near their home in Oriosa. Soon Tarrant, Leigh, and Nay are on the adventure of a lifetime, traveling with heroes of every stripe to stop Chytrine and bring her threat to an end.

But as Tarrant learns, being a hero sometimes isn't an easy road to walk, especially when you can't always identify who your enemies really are.

Once again, Stackpole does a great job creating an engaging, rich story. One of his fortes is world- and culture-building and he puts it to good use in this world.

For example, one of the most fascinating things about Tarrant and his friends is that they all wear masks in public. All the nobles of Oriosa do; to be barefaced is to be naked. Whenever I read a Stackpole book, I know I'm going to be dropped into a different culture that's been well put-together with a deep history.

I do have a problem with this book, though, and it revolves around Tarrant Hawkins. If you've read this book and then go on to Fortress Draconis, the first book in the DragonCrown War Cycle, you'll basically ruin the first big surprise of the DragonCrown War Cycle. Or, at the very least, you'll ruin what's supposed to be the first big surprise of the DragonCrown War Cycle. That's what happened to me at any rate. I got to the end of Fortress Draconis, I hit the "big reveal," and my response was, "Well, duh! I knew that already!"

The problem is that to really understand what's happening in the DragonCrown War Cycle, you have to read The Dark Glory War first. Many of the concepts and history behind the trilogy is explained in the prelude.

It's not a reason to not read the books, it's just a warning. If you like some high fantasy adventure, you can't go wrong with this book and the ones that follow.

The Case for the Real Jesus

Have you noticed that every year right around Easter we have another "major discovery" that somehow sheds light on who the "real Jesus" was? A few years ago, it was the Gospel of Judas. This past year, it was the so-called "Jesus family tomb" in Talpiot. In the past we've had the Jesus Seminar weigh in on what Jesus supposedly really said and did. What's a Christian to think? Who is the real Jesus?

That's where Lee Strobel's latest book, The Case for the Real Jesus comes in. Strobel has once again crossed the country to speak with experts on some rather sticky questions. They are:

"Scholars are uncovering a radically different Jesus in ancient documents just as credible as the four Gospels."

"The Bible's portrait of Jesus can't be trusted because the Church tampered with the text."

"New explanations have refuted Jesus' resurrection."

"Christianity's beliefs about Jesus were copied from pagan religions."

"Jesus was an imposter who failed to fulfill Messianic prophecies."

"People should be free to pick and choose what to believe about Jesus."

I was impressed with the evidence that Strobel assembled. I especially appreciated the work that he did on the first two challenges about ancient texts and the idea that the Church changed what the Bible said. I hear those ideas thrown around a lot and they bug me because they simply aren't true, yet people keep trumpeting those ideas as if they're (pardon the pun) gospel.

What makes this book a nice read is that Strobel keeps the discussion accessible. This isn't a book filled with scholarly diatribes and thirty-dollar theological terminology. It's a good entry-level discussion of the issues. It's good to get the general gist of what it's all about.

On a personal note, I was tickled to see Randall Ingermanson quoted for his statistical ananlysis of the Talpiot ossuaries. I also laughed whenever I encountered quotes from Dr. Paul Maier (Lee, if you ever stumble into my blog and see this, be sure to interview Dr. Maier for a future book! He'd be a worthy addition to your cavalcade of Biblical scholars).

At any rate, if you want a sober judgment of recent developments in the search for the so-called "historical Jesus," you can't go wrong by reading this book.