Questions to All Your Answers

With a title like Questions to All Your Answers, how could I not get this and read it? Roger Olson, the book's author, sets out to examine some spiritual cliches that are often spouted by what he calls "folk Christianity." These are statements that are often made by well meaning Christians that aren't quite right. The statements are as follows:

• "It's a mystery, just accept it."
• "God is in control."
• "Jesus is the answer."
• "The Bible has all the answers."
• "God has a perfect plan for your life."
• "God helps those who help themselves."
• "Jesus is coming soon."
• "All sins are equal."
• "Judge not."
• "Money isn't bad, but only what we do with it."

Do any of those make you squirm? They made me squirm. I'm guilty of uttering a few of them. As a matter of fact, if you listen to the sermons I'm posting on this blog, you probably heard me utter one of them from the pulpit recently. Needless to say, I was curious what Olson would have to say about each of these.

He doesn't demolish them but he certainly kicks at their supports. In many cases, he points out how the principles and ideas behind these cliches really aren't Biblical. And while he doesn't throw all of them out in the end, he points out that blindly holding on to them and throwing them into debates usually isn't helpful because it leads people to hold unexamined beliefs about Christianity, some of them blatantly wrong.

Now down't get me wrong, I disagreed with Olson on a few points in the book. That comes from our differing theological backgrounds. But overall, I think this book is a great correction to some of the cliches and attitudes that have popped up in contemporary Christianity. I know personally, I really appreciated what he had to say about God's will for a person's life. That chapter alone made this a worthy read.

So do you dare see what questions Olson has to all of your answers? You might just have to do some thinking, and in the long run, that's not a bad thing.

A Dark History: The Roman Emperors

My wife says I'm weird. And she's probably right.

Now she could easily pick from a whole list of strange behavior on my part to support her declaration. But last night, the thing she zeroed in on is the fact that I was reading a history book. For fun.

Allow me to explain: I am fascinated by the Roman Empire. I don't know what it is about Rome, but I can't get enough. Perhaps it's because the Empire was the cradle into which Christianity was born. Perhaps it's because I see striking parallels between the Roman Empire and our current American Empire (and that's not really a good thing). Whatever the case, when I saw A Dark History: The Roman Emperors, I had this sudden urge to buy it and read it. And using some birthday money, I made the purchase and in the course of a day or two, devoured it.

On the whole, it's an okay book. Rather than deal with politics or warfare or anything like that, Michael Kerrigan (the book's author) spends his time detailing the lurid details of the early emperors' personal lives. Tales of gluttony, lust, betrayal, assassination, all those sorts of things fill the pages. If the details aren't salacious, they aren't here. For example, when we got to the Five Good Emperors, Kerrigan skipped half of them because they were too good and didn't have any tabloid-worthy exploits.

As much as I enjoy Roman history, this book left me kind of flat. For starters, there's the fact that I knew a lot of these stories already. I'm well acquainted with the tales of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, thanks to the historical novels of Paul Maier (namely Pontius Pilate and The Flames of Rome). The thing is, that's half of the book right there. So while I was reading half of this book, I kept thinking, "Yeah, I know, I know, I know."

Second, we have the little bit of "false advertising" in the title of this book. Kerrigan's book boldly declares that this is a history that goes through "the fall of Rome." Awesome. Like I said, I know the first century pretty well thanks to Dr. Maier. So I was looking forward to doing some reading of post-Constantine emperors.

Small problem there. Kerrigan stops telling full stories after the reign of Elagabalus, who died in 222 CE. Rome kept going for another 250 years. Kerrigan sprints through to that point through the epilogue. A better subscript for this book's title might have been: "From Julius Caesar through the third century," but I suspect that wouldn't have sold as well.

And finally, I was a little irked at some of the things that Kerrigan left out. For example, Nero's persecution of the Christians after the fire of Rome received a brief mention. Domitian's persecution wasn't mentioned at all. And when Kerrigan related the stories of the Bar Kokhba revolt, he made some historical errors regarding Bar Kokhba's name. Here's a hint to Mr. Kerrigan should he stumble into my blog at some point: that wasn't his real name. That was his nickname given to him by Rabbi Akiva.

So should you read this? If you haven't read Paul Maier's books, sure, why not? Or better, read Maier's books and leave this one on the clearance shelf like I should have.

CSFF Blog Tour: Blaggard's Moon Day Three

I hate to admit this, but I got nothin' for today. Well, almost nothing. How's this: if George Bryan Polivka continues to write excellent pirate fiction like Blaggard's Moon, there is only one thing that would make it better.

Ninjas.

Seriously. Exploit the now legendary hatred between pirates and ninjas. That would make the book even more full of win.

Okay, I really do have nothing. Hopefully the other tourists will do better than me:

Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Keanan Brand
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Alex Field
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespack
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

CSFF Blog Tour: Blaggard's Moon Day Two

So here we go. Yesterday, I promised to talk about my favorite part of George Bryan Polivka's Blaggard's Moon. Here we go. It's the time-bending nature of the narrative.

When I first started reading the book, I was a bit stumped (if you'll pardon the horrible pun) when I realized that the seeming main character, Smith Delaney, was tied to a pole in the middle of a lagoon, waiting for carnivorous mermonkeys to kill him. I was scratching my head, wondering how on earth Polivka was going to pull this off.

And then, even stranger, Delaney started remembering a tale told to him and his former crewmates by Ham Drumbone. As if that wasn't enough, we then dove directly into Ham's story, following Jenta Stillmithers and Damrick Fellows through their trials and travails.

So it went, bouncing from Jenta and Damrick to the pirates hearing their story to poor old Delaney, stuck on his pole. When I realized that's what was going on, I was a little worried. How well could this work?

As it turns out, very well. I never got lost in the telling. I was able to keep the overlapping stories straight and it really augmented the story, even though we had advance warning about some of the things that would happen.

It's a great storytelling strategy, especially if you can pull it off well. It actually reminded me of Mary Doria Russell's two sci-fi books. I'm not sure if I could do it, but after reading Blaggard's Moon, I'm surely tempted to try.

Go and see what else the tourists have to say this month:

Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Keanan Brand
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Alex Field
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespack
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

Sushi for One

I'm usually the one who's late to the party. Or I wind up doing things a little weird.

Take the latest book I read, namely Sushi for One by Camy Tang. I actually read the second book in this series, Only Uni, back in November. In many ways, that served as a gigantic spoiler for me. I knew all about Lex Sakai's trials and tribulations. I knew how her story ended. Not only that, but I had a hard time reconciling Trish's portrayal in this book with what I had read before.

But enough belly-aching from me. Lex Sakai has a major problem. Her meddling grandmother wants her to get a boyfriend and quick! Grandma is so serious, she's threatening to cut the funding to the girls' volleyball team Lex coaches. So Lex starts out on a quest to find the perfect man, based on a list of criteria she gleaned from the book of Ephesians.

But there are plenty of twists and turns on the way, like Lex starting a new job, having to find a place to live, and dealing with a long-buried trauma.

Having read two of her books now, I have to stand in awe of Camy Tang's characterization. She crafts four very different characters in her books and I love all four of them. It's enough to make me keep reading chick lit for a while, and believe me, as a dyed-in-the-wool speculative guy, that's quite the accomplishment.

CSFF Blog Tour: Blaggard's Moon Day One

Arrrrrr, me hearties! Time once again fer me to break out me bad pirate accent. Fer this month, we be reviewin' the mighty tome o' the great George Bryan Polivka's Blaggard's Moon. So pour a tankard o' the best grog, kick up yer feet, and settle in.

Yeah, once again, I can't keep that up for an entire post.

You know, it's interesting. A year and a half ago, we toured around Polivka's Legend of the Firefish. For some reason, I didn't think I liked it that much. But I went back and read my review and was surprised to learn that I really enjoyed it. Weird. I guess it didn't fare so well in my memory.

Well, since my memory failed me, I wasn't exactly looking forward to reading Blaggard's Moon. But anything for the blog tour.

Much to my delight, I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. From the moment I met Smith Delaney, sitting on his pole in the pond, all the way through the twisting and turning plot, I was hooked. I loved it all. I mean, how can you not love a book that features vicious, bone breaking sea monkeys?

Okay, not sea monkeys per se. But once again, Polivka has invented some new critters to populate his fictional seas.

In many ways, the story of Blaggard's Moon is really the story of Jenta Stillmithers and Damrick Fellows. I was rooting for those two from the moment they waltzed onto the pages. The action is incredible and very clever. The characters are extremely memorable. It's just a great, rollicking story with lots of fights, romance, and skullduggery.

But I'm saving my favorite part fo the story for tomorrow.

It's a shame that the first Polivka book I read didn't stick with me. I'm fairly confident that this one will.

Go see what else the tourists have to say about this great book:

Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Keanan Brand
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Alex Field
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespack
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

Fossil Hunter

You know how the great books are based off of "What if" premises? Well, try this on: what if Indiana Jones was a woman? What if, instead of an archaeologist, she's a paleontologist who studies ancient whales? And what if she's a Christian caught in the middle of the controversy between evolution and intelligent design?

That's Katie James, the heroine of Fossil Hunter by John Olson. Katie finds her reputation in ruins after a group of fossil poachers destroy a unique whale in Peru. Things only get worse when her demophobia disrupts a seminar and her superiors believe she's questioning evolution. When they also learn she's a Christian, her job is taken away.

But then she's offered a chance: Iraqi shepherds found another fossilized whale and Katie is given the chance to find it and redeem her academic reputation. But there's a fly in the ointment. A rival paleontologist, Nick Murad, is also after the Iraqi whale. Worse, Katie finds herself embroiled in Iraqi politics as Sunni and Shi'ite ministers bicker and argue, especially since one of them doesn't appreciate the implications of Katie's discoveries.

As usual, Olson delivers a great read, an incredible adventure through the deserts of Iraq. Katie is awesome. She has it all: brains, beauty, bravery. She's extremely memorable and, quite frankly, I'd love to see the further adventures of Katie James someday.

What I really appreciate most about this book is Olson's stance on the whole controversy surrounding evolution. I worried that this would be more propoganda, lots of posturing. But Olson really takes a great middle road stance and I appreciate his honesty. More people should read this book and think about what Olson has to say in his final notes.

Death by aliens?

So I regularly listen to the How Stuff Works podcast, "Stuff You Should Know." While the hosts annoy me for some reaosn or another, they always have interesting ideas. Well, I listened to one episode today and, I have to say, what they shared was just bizarre. Strange enough to make me think there's a story in there somewhere.

But maybe not. Who knows? Whatever the case, I now share with you the most bizarre series of deaths I have ever heard about: Death by an unknown cause.

Anyone have any ideas?

Gaming Two-fer

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I love playing table top games. The weirder, the more complex, the better. The sad thing is I don't get to play them that often. But this past weekend, I was able to take two new ones for a spin, so here we go...

First we have the Catan Dice Game. My introduction to what I like to call "geek games" came through the Catan series. One of my cousins brought the original Settlers of Catan game to a family Christmas. I fell in love. I have the original, the Seafarers of Catan expansion (never played it), and a Christian variant called The Settlers of Canaan. While I love the strategy of these games, I usually wind up losing. Actually, I take that back. I usually win the first game I play with a new group while I'm teaching them the rules. Then I can never beat those new players again.

I've seen the card version and wasn't all that interested. And then Jill, my darling wife, spotted the dice version. Intrigued, I went on-line where I was able to play a solitaire version on the game's official website. That gave me enough of a taste to go out and get it.

Basically, each player gets a score sheet with a miniature version of a Catan map, complete with roads, settlements, cities, and knights. To build those items, you have to collect the right resources by rolling six dice. You do this three times, keeping the stuff you want and re-rolling what you don't. You then get points for what you can build and are penalized if you can't build something.

The mechanics are straightforward and easy to follow. The real strategy comes in what you keep and what you re-roll. When I played the first game with my dad, sister, and brother-in-law, we all wound up scoring pretty low. Or rather, I scored low. They kicked my butt. My only gripe is the size of the score sheet and the relative darkness of the Catan map. I often lost track of what I had built already, often winding up saving dice for something I couldn't build yet.

So that was last night. This morning, my brother-in-law Chris and I broke out another new game, namely Carcassone: The Castle.

I've never actually played the original Carcassone. I do own the Christian variant, namely Ark of the Covenant. For those of you unfamiliar with the basic game, you build the board as you play, laying tiles and then placing people on said tiles.

The Castle is a two-player variant of the game. It comes with a scoring track that frames the play area. The tiles have towers, houses, courtyards, and paths on them in varying combinations. You build the interior of the castle as you play, playing people on the various structures to claim them and then score points as they are finished. As you move around the track, you also gain one-shot bonus tiles that can make or break your game.

Again, this game was pretty easy to pick up. The only real problem I suffered was that the rules were a bit different from Ark of the Covenant. In Ark, you can score points for partially completed roads and cities. The same is not true in Castle. And while there were some new rules to contend with, they were pretty easy to understand.

The whole game lasted about an hour or so, which seemed a little long. I blame the fact that it was the first time for both of us. The corner tiles, the one-shot bonuses, were a good addition. I think they're why I was able to win pretty handily.

If you like a good strategic game, one you can share with non-hardcore gamers, these two are good ones to try. Consider them "gateway" games.