The Least Read Blog on the Web: January 2008

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

CSFF Blog Tour: Auralia's Colors Day Three

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about making this post. If you looked in the comments, you'll see that my identification of the Keeper as some sort of Christ or God figure might be a little off. That made me a little gun shy for today.

See, when I read Auralia's Colors, there was something that was said in a climactic scene that irked me. Just a little. But as time passed and the blog tour drew nearer, it bothered me more and more. And so I planned this post to address what it was and why those statements tainted what, up until that point, had been a very enjoyable read.

But because of my "oops" yesterday, I decided I had better go back and reread the scene to make sure I wasn't going to make another mistake. So last night, I did just that. And discovered that, much to my chagrin, it wasn't as bad as I remembered.

And yet I'm going to make the post anyway because, even though the problem is not as blatant as I remembered, there were hints of a serious eschatological mistake.

To explain, let me present you with a hypothetical situation.

Let's say that a tornado rips through your town. This isn't some mini-twister. This is one of those F5 monsters, the kind that happen once in a great while. Everything is completely destroyed and everyone in your neighborhood is out on the streets.

Fortunately for you, a wealthy philanthropist hears about your plight. More than that, he's filled with compassion and wishes to do something. And so, purely out of the kindness of his heart, he decides to rebuild your hometown. Every last house. Every last building. He'll foot the bill and make everything right again.

But more than that! He's not just going to rebuild the houses. He's going to make them better. Every house will have an indoor heated pool. Every house will have plush master bedroom suites. Every house will have spacious kitchens with granite countertops. You get the idea. Again, he will pay for the upgrade and, even better, there will be no mortgage payments or utility bills or anything like that.

Now obviously, this will take some time so, in the interim, he'll put you and your neighbors up in a hotel. A nice one. You know, four stars, good room service, free cable, that sort of thing.

Great news, yes? I'm sure that in light of all this, you would be quite excited. So you call your friends and tell them, "Guess what? I get to stay in a HOTEL!" And that's all you talk about. The four stars. The room service. The cable. Not a word about the new house.

Does that seem reasonable? And yet far too many Christians celebrate the hotel, not the house.

What am I talking about? And how does this relate to Auralia's Colors? It all has to do with what we believe happens to us after we die.

The problem is, far too many Christians suffer from what I call "interim state confusion." They believe that heaven -- specifically the disembodied soul part -- is the final destination. But if you read the New Testament carefully, you realize that disembodied souls in heaven is not the hope we have as Christians for after death. The resurrection of our bodies is the true hope.

Think about it. How did Jesus comfort Martha when Lazarus died? He didn't point her to heaven. He pointed her to the resurrection. What did Paul spend 58 verses expounding on in 1 Corinthians 15? It wasn't heaven. It was the resurrection. How did Paul comfort the Thessalonian Christians when some of their siblings in the faith had died? It wasn't by pointing them to some ethereal, eternal heaven. It was by assuring them that the dead would be raised in glory at the Last Day.

Heaven, properly understood, is the waiting room, not the end of the story as so many assume. It's the interim state but so many people confuse it for the big deal.

So what does this have to do with Auralia's Colors? There's a moment where, in a climactic scene, Overstreet dips his toe into interim state confusion.

I don't really want to say where; it will kind of ruin a major plot point and, in spite of my red warning yesterday, I don't want to generate this massive of a spoiler. But at one point, Overstreet makes it sound as if our bodies are simply something to be discarded after death and that this physical world is somehow unimportant.

That's simply not true. Worse, it's not really a Christian attitude. Think of it this way: God did not create human beings as bodiless souls that somehow got tricked and trapped into a physical body when we fell into sin. He created us soul and body together. Death does violence to that natural order and separates the two. That's why the resurrection is all important. It will reunite what was never meant to be divided.

To put it bluntly, the belief that the physical body doesn't matter is, in my opinion, borderline gnosticism. The gnostics believed that physical matter was inherently evil and that the soul had to be freed from it. While this attitude of the body being an unimportant husk doesn't reach that level, it does trivialize something that God has created and God doesn't create junk.

My ranting and raving about this does not mean that I didn't enjoy Auralia's Colors. I did. And like I said, Overstreet may not have intended to cross the line and may not have at all. I'm all for Christian speculative fiction authors dancing on the end of tree branches (as is evidenced by my rampant speculation about alien life from a few months ago). We just have to be careful that the branch we're dancing on is still on the tree.

But enough from me. Sorry. Like I said, interim state confusion is a pet peeve of mine and I tend to sound off on it when I can. Go and peruse the other participants. I'm willing to guess none of them will smack you upside the head with a theology lecture.

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Carol Bruce Collett
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Margaret
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Pamela Morrisson
Eve Nielsen
John Ottinger
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Cheryl Russel
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachelle Sperling
Donna Swanson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

CSFF Blog Tour: Auralia's Colors Day Two

One of the things that impressed me about Auralia's Colors was its subtlety. Unlike many Christian fantasy books, there was no obvious analogues for God or Christ. There was no Christian Church in an odd disguise or almost Scriptures. The special abilities of Auralia, the ale boy, and Scharr ben Fray aren't spiritual gifts with a twist. This is a world that stands apart from ours which makes it more interesting to explore. Everything is new. Everything is fresh.

SPOILER ALERT: The best example of this is the Keeper. Unfortunately, I had this surprise ruined for me by a review on Amazon, so I kind of saw it coming. But I'll be honest, I thought it was cool. The way Overstreet presents it, the Keeper is the beastie who lurks in people's dreams, an uncontrollable monster that the people of Abscar seem to rightly fear but has some unexplainable connection to Auralia. But, as the story unfolds, we realize that the Keeper is not a horrific monster but, surprise surprise, a rough analogue to God. Or Christ. I'm still trying to put all the pieces together to figure out which precisely. Although, come to think of it, the distinction isn't as clear as I just made it sound.

Sorry about the tangent. Anyway... The Keeper. I have to admit, I had never envisioned Christ as a big monster that lurks in the bottom of a lake. Let's face it, when most people think of Jesus, the picture Him like this:

Very friendly, very serene. Not at all a monster.

And yet, the reason why we think of Him that way is because we know the end of the story. When we do walk with Jesus on the roads of Galilee and Judea, we do so knowing that He's heading to the cross and the empty tomb. We know who He is and what He is. We know what His motivation is and why He does what He does (for the most part). We don't see Jesus as a monster because to us, He's not.

But then, we don't suffer from "the scandal of the immediate," as Dr. Paul Maier calls it. Like I said, we see Jesus and we see Him as the loving Messiah, the one sent to redeem the world. But that's not how the first century Jewish leadership saw Him. To them, He was a monster and a scary one, best eliminated and forgotten about. To the Pharisees, He was a sinner who encouraged people to break the covenant law, putting them in double jeopardy. Not only might they be punished for impiety with another exile, the Messiah might never arrive as well.

To the Sadducees, Jesus was a rabble rouser, a potential rallying point for those who wanted to disrupt the status quo with the Romans. If things were allowed to go too far, the Romans would have to quash the rebellion, which could result in the Sadducees losing power and the center of their existence, the Temple.

To both, Jesus was a monster. He had to be eliminated. The only reason why we don't see Him that way is because we see Him through the lens of faith. Since we know the end of the story, since we have that relationship of faith, we don't see Him that way. We see Him as the "tame" Messiah with the loving heart in the same way that Auralia and Cal-raven see the Keeper.

The important thing, I guess, is to remember the not-so-tame Messiah. After all, to rip off C.S. Lewis a little, the Keeper is not a tame beastie. But he is good. And so is Christ.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the blog tour participants are saying:

Monday, January 21, 2008

CSFF Blog Tour: Auralia's Colors Day One

This month we feature Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet. Simply put, this book was phenomenal. I thoroughly enjoyed it (except for one point, but I'll talk about that on Wednesday. It's kind of a long story).

The book is the story of Auralia and starts when she is found by the river by two former criminals. And so we're plunged into a rich and detailed world, one in which colors have been outlawed in the House Abscar. This is problematic for Auralia, who has a talent for finding rich and vibrant colors in the world around her. What will happen when Auralia flouts the royal law by using her natural talent?

Overstreet's narrative simply sings throughout the whole book. I noticed at several points that he engaged in a great deal of "telling" (which, as most writers will tell you, is a major no-no). But he was able to get away with it because his prose was spot-on perfect. I didn't mind the "telling" at all. In fact, it was a joy to read.

Exploring Auralia's world was fantastic as well. Overstreet's creation had great depth to it with its own cultures and history. It was foreign enough to fascinate yet familiar enough to not overwhelm.

And then there's the Keeper. But I'll talk more about him tomorrow.

To sum it up, this is a fun, beautiful read. Make time for this one. You'll be glad you did.

Be sure to take a look at what others have to say:

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Doink doink!

So normally, I dedicate these blog entries to literary items. Books I've read, random musings about writing (not so many of those lately, but that may change this year). But I had to sound off a little on the season premiere of Law & Order.

I have been a fan of the original Law & Order for quite some time now. I remember getting hooked by one of their infamous "ripped from the headline" cases, one based ... er, ripped from the story of JonBonet Ramsey. There have been highs. There have been lows. Lately there have been new cast members every time I blink. But I have remained faithful for one reason: Jack McCoy.

Jack McCoy (played so ably by Sam Waterston) is the man! I love this guy. I love the clever way that he traps defendants on the stand. I look forward to his closing arguments. I savor his gruff demeanor in the office. He is the sole reason I've endured the revolving door casting on this show.

When Fred Thompson announced his candidacy (or whatever it is he's supposed to be doing in Iowa), I was delighted. Not because I wanted Fred Thompson to run for president. Primaries aren't my thing. No, I was excited because I realized that, thanks to the equal time rule, Arthur Branch would be gone from the "big chair" and, based on some of the hints dropped in the last season, there was a very real possibility that Jack would finally ascend to become not just the executive District Attorney, but the main man himself.

And imagine my delight when, on a recent episode of Law & Order: SVU, I learned that it had happened. Alexandra Cabot is called on the carpet by the new DA. And I was thrilled! Sure, Jack wouldn't be prosecuting cases anymore, but it would be fun to see him with even more on his plate.

And my delight kept growing. Thanks to the writers' strike, Law & Order returned to its rightful slot on Wednesday night! And it was a two hour premiere! What a deal for me!

I have to say, by and large, I was satisfied with what I saw tonight. Two very good episodes with some fun twists to them. But all is not well in my fanatic little brain. I have a major gripe with the way Dick Wolf reshuffled his cast. And it has to do with Jack McCoy's staff.

I assumed, when I learned that Jack McCoy had become the head cheese (how many more synonyms can I come up with in one post?), Connie Rubirosa (played by Alana de la Garza) would get bumped up to first chair in terms of prosecution. Now that would be something. The original Law & Order has never had a female chief prosecutor before. Sure, SVU has, but not the original. I was actually looking forward to seeing Rubirosa drill into a defendant and do more than just run on down to the precinct when she was needed to listen in on an interrogation.

Besides, Rubirosa's promotion would also dispel a nasty notion that I've had in the back of my head for a few years now. It would prove that Dick Wolf doesn't have it in for female prosecutors. Let's see here: he's killed two of them (Claire Kincaid and Alexandra Borgia), almost killed another (Alexandra Cabot), had one savagely beaten (Casey Novak), and had one come out of the closet completely at random (Serena Southerlyn). To have Connie Rubirosa actually go up instead of crashing and burning like the majority of the female ADAs in his shows would have been kind of cool.

But no, that didn't happen. Instead, Wolf brought in the new guy, Michael Cutter (played by Linus Roache).

Now, don't get me wrong. I liked what I saw. Roache resembles a somewhat gaunt Michael Douglas and his accent is really cool. His energy seems to be a good counterpoint for McCoy's demeanor and I like the fact that he ordered the cops in without a warrant (watch the reruns). And the way he clinched the case against the kidnapers was almost McCoy-esque. But would it have been so horrible for Cutter to be the ADA and let Rubirosa take the lead chair?

But I guess that isn't going to happen. Oh well. In the meantime, I'll get used to seeing Michael Cutter on cross. I'll delight in seeing Jack McCoy calling the shots. And I'll hope that Connie Rubirosa keeps her life insurance premiums paid up.

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

CSFF Blog Tour: Auralia's Colors Day Three