Finish Line

And that's a wrap. I just finished Failstate. Final wordcount: 111,885. I think this just might be the longest book I've ever written and that's not necessarily a good thing, considering my target had been 80,000 words. Maybe I'll be able to slice the extra 30,000 words off during the rewrite, maybe not. I'm not going to worry about that right now.

Perhaps this isn't the best time for some introspection, but here's my initial thoughts: this was a bear to finish. Like I said a week and a half ago, the ending point seemed to keep moving on me. Every time I thought I had a handle on the plot and what had to happen, more scenes would occur to me, things that I thought I had to include to make the story work. It's little wonder I cracked the 100,000 word mark.

The ending isn't as good as I'd like. I couldn't come up with a killer last line this morning so I'll have to save that for the rewrite. Hopefully one will occur to me between now and then. My wife and I were joking that I should just have Jesus return and end the book that way. But yeah, that would be the ultimate deus ex machina, wouldn't it? That's not what I did, don't worry.

This is the messiest first draft I've ever produced. At least two scenes are in the wrong places, which means that when I start the rewrite, I'll need to do some rethinking about structure. That means that I may have to write some new connecting scenes from scratch. I'm planning on axing one character entirely, removing his subplot from the book. That should help bring down the wordcount. And I need to rework the first 50 pages or so since they're in third person and the last 350 or so are first person.

What's also interesting for me is that this is the fastest I've gone from story idea to completed first draft. Normally I'll think of an idea and let it "mulch" for a while, usually a year or two, before I start work on it. I came up with the idea of Failstate last fall, right after the ACFW Conference. Given the fits this story gave me, I wonder if I rushed things too much. We'll have to see what the rewrite process brings.

So Failstate is going on the shelf for a month or two so I can get some emotional distance from it. That way I can be more clinical when I start hacking it to pieces. In the meantime, I've got some projects waiting for me: editing a novel for one of my parishioners, working on some critiques for the ACFW group. I'm also planning on doing some work on both Return of the Mourning Dove and The Escape. And I'm going to start hitting up publishers for Numb. So while I may not be putting new words down on paper, I'll still be busy with writing.

But it feels good to be finished.

CSFF Blog Tour: Redux

In my blog tour post from Tuesday, I brought up the whole question of the Keeper and Auralia's identities in the Auralia's Thread series. Are they allegories for the Father and Son? The Church and average (or above average) Christians? What?

Rachel Starr Thompson posted a few questions in response:

I think as Christians we come to "Christian fantasy" with a lot of unfair expectations. Interestingly, Jeff himself has been saying (in interviews and FB updates and such like places) ever since Auralia's Colors that this isn't an allegory, and that anyone who tries to pigeonhole the Keeper and Auralia as allegories for God the Father and Jesus is going to get a surprise. So yup -- we did!

As for "what makes these books Christian" -- I've been asking myself similar questions for a while, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm coming to believe that we do art a disservice when we expect everything "Christian" to do the same job (give the gospel). Can a book not be "Christian" just because it discusses lies and religion and beauty from a Christian perspective? Did every story Jesus ever told cover the whole gospel, or is it all right to tackle parts of the truth, taking time to go into them deeply? I wonder. Any thoughts on this?

So let's see here. Do I expect every Christian fantasy to have allegory? No. Not at all. As a matter of fact, if all Christian fantasies were an x=y type of allegory, I'd probably grow sick and tired of the genre really quickly.

And I also appreciate Rachel's point about how every book doesn't need to present the Gospel. I wholeheartedly agree with this. As a matter of fact, I actually think this is a weakness of Christian fiction in general. Authors seem to forget who their primary audience is, namely, Christians. Not pre-Christians or seekers or whatever the current "in" term is for those outside the faith but those who are already in. I think a lot of Christian authors do a disservice to their readers when they insist on the bread-and-butter "here's how you get saved" message being a part of every book. Does it have its place? Sure. But I've come to discover that I actually appreciate the books that go beyond the "pure spiritual milk" of the Gospel and into the "solid food" of Christian living. There's a reason why the author of Hebrews goes after his readers in Hebrews 5:11-14 and I think we often forget that. That's part of the reason why I've appreciated the work of such authors as Sharon Hinck, Karen Hancock, and yes, even Jeffrey Overstreet; they do go beyond the simple Gospel and challenge the way we look at things. And it's great to delve into these topics from a Christian worldview.

So if Overstreet is trying to challenge us with Auralia, all well and good. Like I said yesterday, I really appreciated Krawg's story of the tricksters. I think his stinging critique of the Bel Amicans and their selfish attitude, fostered by moon spirits, is great and necessary, especially for American Christians who tend to drift in that direction.

At the same time, though, I have . . . well, not "worries" or "concerns." Those words are too strong. Perhaps the better way to put it is that I'm flummoxed by the Keeper and Auralia for this reason: they bear just enough allegorical marks to confuse the situation. Like I said in Tuesday's post, we see Cal Raven and Rescue praying to the Keeper; that's the only way to describe it. And the Auralia cult seemed to resonate strongly with Cal Raven because, I suspect, he harbored such Messianic feelings about her too.

I haven't seen the interviews with Overstreet to know what he says about such allegorical identifications; I've only heard them second hand. My flummox-ation comes from the fact that on the one hand, he insists that Auralia is not a Christ-figure and that the Keeper doesn't stand in for God. And then, in every book, he certainly seems to be dressing them up as such, only to turn around and loudly insist that he's not.

Ultimately I suspect that the problem is with me, not him. I'm perhaps missing some piece to the puzzle that will make this a bit more clear. I just wish I wasn't so flummoxed, that's all.

Wordcount Wednesday

I'm cautiously optimistic, which actually has me a bit worried. Pride goeth before the fall. This is usually the point where the rug gets pulled out from under you. That sort of thing.

Yeah, I can be a glass-half-empty kind of guy at times.

The reason why I'm kind of encouraged/concerned (encourcerned?) is because I seem to be on track to finishing Failstate. All I have left is what I'm terming the "final battle" and the final, wrap-em-up scene. I have two days to finish those scenes, which seems only appropriate.

The thing that has me worried is the fact that I have no idea how long the final battle is going to be. Right now, I'm thinking two or three chapters, but it could balloon into more. The conclusion should be relatively short, though, so I should be able to finish on time. Hopefully by this time on Friday, I'll be finished. Well, maybe a few hours from now on Friday. I'm anticipating a late night, mad scramble for the finish line. That's usually the way I write the endings of my books.

But enough rambling! Wordcount time. As of right now, Failstate clocks in at 105,483 words. In other words, I added 13,037 words this week. I suppose it helps that I had that panic attack last week.

Believe you me, that's not a great thing, considering my original target was 80,000 words. I hope that number comes down in the rewrite process. But first I have to finish. Pray for me. The next two days should be interesting.

CSFF Blog Tour: Raven's Ladder Day Three

Today we conclude our look at Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet.

While I complained yesterday about my confusion regarding the overall theme of this series, there was one shining jewel of Christian thought that I really appreciated in this book. That would be Krawg's story in the revelhouse in Mawrnash (also known as chapter 11, "The Six Tricksters"). I appreciated what Overstreet, via Krawg, had to say there and, while I may be confused about the Keeper and Auralia, I'm okay with reading this book. Maybe things will finally be clear in the next book. We'll just have to see.

Go and check out what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Rachel Briard (BooksForLife)
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour: Raven's Ladder Day Two

So let's continue our discussion of Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet.

There's been one enduring mystery for this series that I can't seem to wrap my mind around, and that's the role of the Keeper. It seems like every blog tour, I think I have things nailed down and then the next book comes along and knocks me for a loop. When I read Auralia's Colors, I was sure that Auralia was a Christ-figure and the Keeper stood in for God. Then I thought that maybe the Keeper was the Church and Auralia an average Christian.

After reading Raven's Ladder, I've got no idea. None whatsoever. I started drifting back to the whole allegorical idea of the Keeper as God and Auralia as Christ. It certainly seems as though characters in the book treat them as such. Both Cal-Raven and Rescue call on the Keeper with prayer-like supplications. Some of the people of Bel Amica treat Auralia like some sort of Messiah figure. So once again, I was drifting back toward the more obvious allegorical identifications for those two imposing figures.

But the last few chapters of the story completely undid that. I can't get into it, but given what I saw, I've realized that allegory isn't the way to go. Not by a long shot.

So ultimately, I don't have a clue what these stories are about. I often wound up asking myself what makes these books Christian, if anything. They certainly arise from a Christian worldview, don't get me wrong. The stinging criticism of the Bel Amican moon spirits mirror what I would say in a sermon about human selfishness. The Cent Regus beastmen are excellent warnings about where we go to find our strength. And Cal-Raven, Rescue, and the others who yearn for the Keeper are a great reminder for us to constantly yearn for the supernatural, for the world that is Real beyond our reality.

But then, given the way I keep floundering with the imagery of these books, I might be reading into this too much. What do I know? Maybe not all that much. Go check out what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Rachel Briard (BooksForLife)
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Allon

You know how they say that if you don't have anything good to say, you should probably just say nothing? I considered posting that aphorism and leaving my review of Allon by Shawn Lamb at that. But I realize that having said that, I should probably explain why I did not care for this book at all.

The biggest problem I had with this book was the sheer amount of telling that Lamb did throughout the pages as opposed to showing. We were told how characters felt. We were told in an abstract way what they were doing. I never felt connected to anything going on in this book. I didn't have any emotional investment in the characters or the story. Truth be told, I finished this book out of obligation. If I hadn't received a free copy to review, I would have stopped reading it after the first fifty pages.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. This story is about a young man named Ellis who learns that he is the rightful king of Allon. In the beginning of the story, he is spirited away to a forest sanctuary where he meets a young girl named Shannan. At first, apparently Ellis has no time for Shannan but then there's an incident that changes his mind about her. She saves him from a wild boar. This incident also is supposed to be the impetus for the eventual tepid romance these two will share. But here's the thing that frustrated me: this significant event is summed up in half a paragraph! We never see the incident at all! Given how pivotal this event is both in Ellis's training and his relationship with Shannan, it might have been nice to actually, you know, see it as it happens, not be told about it in a clinical, backstory kind of way.

The same is true for chapter three, which is nothing but telling. Apparently the wicked king sent out some warrior guy to subdue the kingdom and bring it all under his control. Now I get that chapter three is a summary of two years worth of events, but it was all glossed over so much that it read more like a history book than an adventure novel.

More problematic for me was the lack of good craft in this book. There were poorly constructed sentences, ranging from run-ons to poorly attributed pronouns. There were adverbs aplenty. And there were odd typos, such as a case where Lamb I think meant to say "dominant" but instead wrote "dominate." And while we're on the subject, it's "bear witness," not "bare witness." These grammatical and spelling issues grew worse as the story wore on.

Another factor that bothered me is the sheer number of characters. This book had a cast of hundreds! I think in the first fifty pages we were introduced to as many people. The story simply collapsed under the sheer weight of them all. It seemed like every other page, more and more people were poured into the story to the point where I simply stopped trying to keep track of them all.

Speaking of the characters, there was one other thing that really, really bugged me. In this book, God's name is apparently Jor'El. You know, maybe it's just me, but using the name for Superman's biological father doesn't strike me as a great idea.

And I'll just throw this out here because I'm not sure where else to put it: angelic euthanasia. Yeah. Not a fan.

To sum up, I did not enjoy this book at all. I'll give it a few points for some interesting mythology, but that's not enough to make me even remotely interested in any future books in this series. I know that others might disagree with my opinion, but there you go. There is a lot of great Christian fantasy out there that I'd rather read.

CSFF Blog Tour: Raven's Ladder Day One

I think I'm completely out of the swing of things. So many books arrived for the blog tour that I lost my head somewhere along the way. When the book arrived for this tour, I pulled it out of its package and looked it. The author's name looked vaguely familiar. The cover art was pretty cool, what with a guy holding a sword. And I remember thinking, "Huh. This might be fun."

Then I read the back cover and I just about fell over. Raven's Ladder was written by Jeffrey Overstreet, which means that this is a continuation of the Auralia's Thread series. I've enjoyed the previous two books, namely Auralia's Colors and Cyndere's Midnight. So I couldn't wait to descend into the Expanse and see what Overstreet cooked up for us.

The survivors of House Abascar have been holding out in the mountains for months now and King Cal-Raven has decided that the time has come to find them a new home far to the north. But the journey will not be easy. A new horror is stirring from within the Cent Regus Core. More problematic, however, is the fact that the journey will take the survivors to the luxurious city of Bel Amica, a gilded cage from which they may not want to escape. Can Cal-Raven hold his people together and keep them united under the purpose of finding a new home? Or will they wind up absorbed by their neighbors and the Seers that control them?

To be honest, I think I've been away from Overstreet's world for too long. The first few chapters were a grind because I couldn't remember who was what and what was happening where and why and all that good stuff. In other words, I don't think this is a book that a newbie to the series could just pick up and enjoy. You'd have to read the first two books to really get a feel for what's going on.

But aside from that minor issue, after the first few chapters, I was back in the swing of things and I once again really enjoyed the story that Overstreet crafted. This time, looking at the opulence of Bel Amica was a sobering wake-up call about what people live for.

What I really liked was the ending kick. Overstreet included little twists at the end of his previous two books that kind of set things on their ear and this one is no exception. It especially makes me want to see what he has in store in the next book. And there'd better be a next book, because otherwise there's a huge dangling thread just waiting to be tied off.

I can't believe I just made that joke. No, actually, I take it back. I can.

Make sure you go and check out what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Rachel Briard (BooksForLife)
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

To Darkness Fled

All I have to say is: this was well worth the wait, although the ending was bittersweet for me (I'll get into why in just a moment). I just now finished reading To Darkness Fled by Jill Williamson, the second book in the Blood of Kings trilogy.

When we last left our heroes, Achan Cham had found out that he is the rightful king of Er'rets and that his throne has been usurped by a jerk named Esek. Some of the lords of the land have sworn fealty to him but some powerful people have not. So Achan and his loyal knights must go on the run, fleeing into the Darkness that covers half the kingdom. They need to find allies and try to stay one step ahead of everyone.

Unknown to Achan is the fact that one of traveling companions isn't who he says he is. Achan knows him as Vrell Sparrow, but in reality, Vrell is a noblewoman dressed as a fourteen year old boy. Vrell was supposed to marry Esek in the first book, but instead, she went on the run.

Darkness around them, enemies within and without, can Achan and Vrell find what they're looking for? Can they find what they really need?

Like I said, I've been waiting a year to read this one. Williamson has done it again, putting together a captivating plot with tremendous characters who come alive on the page. She's created a fascinating world but is careful not to get herself (or the reader) too bogged down in it. There were new concepts and ideas popping up all throughout the book (especially relating to the telepathic bloodvoicing that many characters do) but all were introduced gently and logically. I did find it humorous that the old tongue is Biblical Hebrew.

Like the last book, there were plenty of twists and turns. There were even some places where I expected twists but never got one (which provided a wholly different sort of surprising twists). There were a few places where I was able to guess what was about to happen, but that never really bothered me. It was fun to watch things unfolding and Williamson never left me hanging for too long. If I figured it out early, the characters figured it out a few pages later, meaning I never once wanted to shout, "Oh, come on already!" (which sometimes happens when I'm reading).

All that being said, there were three minor things that bothered me, all relating to theology. First of all, there was the Bible quotations. In this fantasy world, we've been introduced to two members of the Trinity, Arman (standing in for God the Father) and Caan (standing in for God the Son). That's all well and good. Believers in Arman have their own holy writings, a Bible analogue in the story. Also good. The problem was that Williamson quoted from their holy writings and in almost every case, it was simply a quotation from our Bible, with the names changed.

Now if this only happened once in a while, I probably wouldn't have minded. But there were two different places where Williamson quoted a great deal of Scripture. For example, in the worship service in Melas, the priest got up and recited a pastiche of John 1 with smatterings of 1 John and other New Testament writings, almost word for word out of the Bible. It almost got to be too much, in my opinion.

Second were two minor theological quibbles I had with statements Williamson made. In one, Sir Gavin Lukos is talking to Vrell about a bloodvoicing ability called "storming." He says "A man's soul is not created for Er'Rets, you see. It was created for Shamayim and longs for the peace and joy of that eternal home." Keeping in mind that er'rets and shamayim are close to the Hebrew words for "earth" and "heaven," I would disagree. So would St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 and, I think, St. John in Revelation 21. God did create our soul for this world. Sin wrecked things, though, and death undoes the intended order of things. That's why Jesus will return to bring about a new heaven and a new earth, one to which we will all be resurrected. Like I said, it's a minor thing, but it bugged me for a while after I read that.

The other problem is one that's not unique to Williamson's book and it's probably a difference in our theological backgrounds. It's the whole concept of "be faithful enough to God and He will give you the desire of your heart." I don't really like anything that skirts too close to a health/wealth/happiness Gospel. I don't think that's Biblical. But again, it was a minor detail and didn't really detract from my overall enjoyment of this wonderful book.

So why was the ending so bittersweet? Well, it's not because of how Achan and Vrell wound up (and, I must say, bravo to Williamson for how deftly she keeps us on edge with all that). It's because, once again, I have to wait to find out how this all ends up. But I'm not too worried. Given what I've seen in the first two books, it will be worth the wait.

Wordcount Wednesday

You know, I'm beginning to think I'm a nuclear writer. No, I don't write with nuclear energy. Instead, I seem to be stuck in some sort of half life model of reaching my goal. I make progress, but I keep worrying that I'm never going to actually make it to the end. I'll always keep going and going and going and going . . .

Well, that's not entirely true. But as of right now, I am nine days away from my third or fourth self-imposed deadline to finish Failstate and I am seriously worried that I will not make it again. Perhaps the title has become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Progress is being made. Today I finished up what I call my "third crisis." Technically it's all downhill from here to the final confrontation and the resolution of the story. This week, I was able to add 6,229 words to Failstate, bringing the overall total to 92,446 words. I've already blown past my self-imposed limit of 80,000 words and I'm looking to overshoot the 100,000 words mark as well. Lots of cutting would appear to be in this story's future, and I think I know what (or more specifically, who) needs to go.

But I need to finish this behemoth first. Okay. Nine days. I can do this. I hope.

Oh, and if you don't get why I included the picture I did, well . . . never mind. Don't worry about it.

The Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit

Earlier today, I went to check out the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota. I'd been looking forward to this for a while now, ever since I heard the exhibit was coming. Sadly, I wasn't permitted to take pictures inside the exhibit itself, so all I really have is the photo at left by the entrance. So I guess you'll just have to rely on my stellar descriptions.

The exhibit started with a short Power Point presentation, narrated by a Nathan Fillion look-a-like. That latter detail isn't really relevant, but I think he looked like Fillion, so there you go. Anyway, it was sort of an overwrought business, complete with shifting spotlights that he had to walk through. It was pretty silly and it wasn't a good way to start the exhibit.

But then we got inside. The exhibit provided a lot of context for the Scrolls, including historical details, cultural information, religious data, all sorts of different items to explain the time period in which the Scrolls were produced. There were satellite photos of the region, lots of artifacts found in the caves where the various Scrolls were found, timelines to explain where and when they were all found. And the whole time, the visitor has a cellphone like device so you can dial up a helpful narrator who explains what each little part of the exhibit is about. This device could also be used to call up further information, mostly statements made by various experts, including some professors from Northwestern University and the University of Minnesota.

I actually learned a lot from the introductory exhibits. For instance, I learned that the Scrolls were the products of the Essene community which some scholars believe lived in Qumran. That, however, is not the only theory out there. There's strong evidence that the Scrolls might be the Temple library, which is pretty cool if you think about it. Most fascinating for me was the discussion about the Copper Scroll. I think there might be a story in there somewhere. To put it simply, there was a lot of data to ingest.

Which brings up my one complaint about the exhibit. There was almost too much data to ingest. I wasn't keeping an eye on my watch by any stretch of the imagination, but based on what I remember, I think it took us close to an hour and a half to go through the preliminary part of the exhibit with nary a peek at an actual Scroll. At one point, my father turned to me and mused, "Do you think they have any Scrolls here?"

It turns out we didn't have to fear, for in a roughly circular room, we got to look at five of the actual Dead Sea Scrolls. Apparently there are actually three different sets of Scrolls. We saw the first set which was really cool. They included a portion of Isaiah's Suffering Servant song, so I got to see a fragment of a Messianic prophecy from 2,000 years ago. Also included was a portion of Psalm 119, in which the scribe had used a special spacing scheme and different script to set apart the tetragrammaton, the four-letter name of God (YHWH). But what I really liked was the portion of the Temple Scroll. It was the easiest to read and I spotted both the name Israel and the tetragrammaton.

But the exhibit wasn't over yet! Also included were pages from the Saint Johns Bible, the first illuminated Bible to be produced in close to 500 years. It was simply incredible. The illustrations were breathtaking and the display fascinating. I actually wished I could purchase a copy of the finished project. It turns out I could in the museum gift shop, but one reprint of one section cost close to eighty bucks. Yikes! It'd be worth it, but I can't justify the expense.

If you're in Minnesota, definitely go check out this exhibit. It's incredibly cool.

Here's a fundraiser idea

Schools in the Twin Cities area are putting on wrestling shows to raise funds for their cash-strapped programs. Here's the article from the Pioneer Press.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm a wrestling fan. That's why I'm watching Celebrity Apprentice right now (go Maria, although I suspect Cyndi Lauper will sink her tonight). I'm thinking it might be fun to go plunk down $10 for a good cause and enjoy some good wrestling.

Rooms

Suppose for a moment that a long-lost relative left you a very special house, a veritable mansion that overlooks a pristine beach on the Pacific Ocean? How would you react?

But wait, that's not all. When you arrive at said house, you discover some rather unique features. Yes, it's luxurious beyond anything you've ever seen, but the design seems perfect for you and only you, a pretty impressive feat given the fact that you've never met your long-lost relative face-to-face. But even stranger, rooms mysteriously appear out of nowhere from time to time, rooms that seem related to your painful past. It seems as if someone is trying to bring about some major changes to your life through the rooms of your new mansion. Who knows who or what you'll be when things are done?

That's what happens to Micah Taylor in James L. Rubart's book, Rooms. Micah is a software executive with more money than he could ever need. He thinks it's great when his great uncle Archie leaves him said mansion in Cannon Beach, Oregon, a beautiful stretch of shore that contains far too many painful memories for Micah.

This was a pretty interesting book. It's hard not to compare it to another piece of Christian fiction written about a house recently (a comparison that I've seen made more than once). In some ways, this book seems more theological treatise than story, an extended parable about the healing and freedom that comes from following Christ. That's not necessarily a bad thing per se. The story, as such, wasn't too bad and Rubart told it well. His thoughts on Christianity seem a bit more mainstream than the other book I mentioned and will probably be more widely accepted by the evangelical set.

My one complaint is that the climax was sort of telegraphed about halfway through. I caught something that Micah didn't and it was pretty obvious, which made me a little frustrated; I kept wanting to take Micah by the shoulders and shake him like an Etch-A-Sketch.

So I guess, all in all, that this is a pretty good book. Don't go into it expecting a ton of drama or action. But it will definitely get you thinking and that's always a good thing.

Wordcount Wednesday

Given the computer drama from the previous week, it's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things. I managed to write 5,992 words this week, bringing my total to 86,217 for Failstate. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm just a chapter away from the big third crisis and then it's all downhill. I hope.

CSFF Blog Tour: Lost Mission Day Three

One of the things I found interesting about Lost Mission by Athol Dickson was the way that most of the main characters went into the story with good intentions, only to have those good intentions blow up in their faces.

Lupe, for example, believed her holy mission was to convert the Americans, so much so that she missed what I think her true calling really way. Delano, so hurt and scarred by his many losses, wished to build a place of sanctuary, but by doing so, he created a false sense of peace. Tucker, the young pastor, began his ministry with the best intentions, but he allowed his own piety to blind him with arrogance. The same is true when it came to Alejandro's fellow Franciscans.

I think the reason why (in my not-so-humble-opinion) is because in each of these cases, each person lost sight of what God really wanted. They trusted in themselves and their own abilities and ultimately, they wound up seeking after their own will. We've seen it time and time again that when that happens, God's people usually wind up in trouble.

Maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe one of my fellow tourists will have a different opinion. Be sure to check out what everyone else is saying:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Amy Browning
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Horrible Turn

I stumbled across another Joss Whedon-related item a few weeks ago and I finally took the time to check it out. One of the things that really "turned me on" to Joss Whedon's creations was Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. Before that point, I had heard of the man. I had watched a few episodes of Buffy (mostly because of a girl I wanted to be dating at the time). I had heard of Firefly but never checked it out. But when I heard about Dr. Horrible, I knew I had to see what this was about. Doogie, a singing bad-guy? A fullblown musical, filmed for and released on the Internet? What's not to like? And, as it turned out, it was something that I loved. And because of it, I had to check out Firefly. I had to watch Dollhouse.

So when I read on Entertainment Weekly's website that a group of people had actually put together an almost full-length Dr. Horrible prequel, I had to check it out.

Here's the trailer for Horrible Turn:



The whole thing is about an hour long, so budget your time appropriately if you wind up watching it.

I went in, uncertain of what I was going to see. Obviously it wouldn't quite have that Whedon-spark. I mean, not many people can turn a phrase like Joss and the music in the original is truly inspired. The music in this one is okay, for the most part. Nothing that struck me as worthy of getting stuck in my head all day. The actors did their level best with their characters and, for the most part, did okay.

But the guy who played the nascent Captain Hammer bugged me. His whole manner was too affected. I mean, I know that Nathan Fillion played Hammer with a smirk and a certain odd lilt to his voice, but the Hammer-wannabe overdid it.

The plot also seemed a bit . . . off. I don't quite know how to explain it, but it could have had more. I expected something different. I wish we could have found out more about what Johnny Snow was up to. And I think Billy's motivation to become Horrible should have been more . . . well, horrible.

Now, having said that, I did enjoy the movie. I loved the way they crammed in nods to other Joss Whedon projects, such as Buffy, Firefly, and Dollhouse. The camera work was great and, given the fact that they didn't have a lot of experience on their side, their achievement was incredible. I would love to see what this team could do on their own instead of creating a film that shoots high but falls a bit short.

At least I can look forward to Dr. Horrible 2. But in the meantime, enjoy this related silliness:

Avengers Assemble!

I just saw on Entertainment Weekly's website some incredible news. Apparently Joss Whedon is in talks to direct the upcoming Avengers movie.

Wow. Are you as excited as I am?

If not, you should be. I've heard good things about how Whedon handled a run with the X-Men a few years back and, I believe, he took a crack at a few other comic book franchises recently also. And when you've pretty much created one of the coolest on-line superhero stories in years, I think you've got the cred needed to put together a great movie.

And besides, it's not like he has anything else better to do, like say helm his own series. No, I'm not still bitter about that, why do you ask?

CSFF Blog Tour: Lost Mission Day Two

Today we're continuing our look at Lost Mission by Athol Dickson.

One of the themes that interested me was Lupe's mission. She becomes convinced due to a miraculous vision to leave her shop in Mexico and travel north to America to preach the Gospel. She wants to be a missionary to the lost and hurting people she hears about on her neighbor's radio. And so she leaves everything behind and crosses the border. This, of course, only sets her on an incredible adventure, one that will shake her to her core (and that's all I'm saying about that).

In the additional material in the back of the book, Dickson reveals that part of his inspiration came from hearing about African and Latin American bishops coming to America to offer us advice on mission work and how South Korea now sends out more missionaries than America (I'd heard the latter when I was in seminary too). It's kind of jarring, but as it turns out, America is becoming a prime mission field. Again, when I was in the seminary, we were told that by the time we graduated, there would be more Lutherans in Africa than in the United States, something that really hit close to home for us.

For many years, the American branch of the Church (or, at least, many mainline denominations) were content to send the missionaries overseas while they relied on what I call "horizontal evangelism" to grow the local congregations (i.e. having children). Sadly, that trend isn't helping anymore. Now those countries that we used to send missionaries to are sending missionaries to us! Wow.

One of the things that this book helped me realize is that what Jesus said is still true today: the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Maybe it's time for us to roll up our sleeves and get to work in the harvest field.

Go and see what else my fellow tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Amy Browning
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour: Lost Mission Day One

This time around, we'll be considering Lost Mission by Athol Dickson.

This book follows a variety of different character whose lives intersect and collide at different times and in many different ways. There's Lupe, a Mexican shop owner who decides to leave everything she knows to travel north to be a missionary to the Americans. There's Tucker, a young pastor who faces difficulty and hardship, not just because he creates a church to minister to the Latino community but also because of his personal choices. There's Delano, a wealthy Christian who allows his personal pain to spur him on to a supposedly grand plan. And threaded through all of their lives is Fray Alejandro, a Franciscan brother who lives four hundred years earlier. All of these characters are faced with hard choices and heavy consequences.

Truth be told, I had to struggle with this book. I had to force myself to keep reading through the first half. Somewhere a little past the half-way point, I was surprised to find I wanted to keep reading. Then past the three-quarters mark, I had to keep reading. I suppose you could say that the book grew on me.

Dickson is definitely a talented writer, no doubt about it. It took me a while to appreciate that. He skillfully wove together each chapter, starting with Alejandro's time period and then thematically linking what the brother experienced with a character in modern times.

My initial reluctance regarding this book is more my problem than his. I reacted badly to his style; Dickson writes this book in a sort of detached manner with a sort of omniscient narrator handling most of the story. Plus every chapter contained a sort of mini-sermon. When I first started reading, the omniscient voice threw me and the mini-sermons kind of turned me off. I got used to the former and wound up skimming the latter.

But that's just me. I want to make that clear. And I did come to enjoy the story toward the middle and, by the end, I had to stay up late one night to finish reading it.

So would I recommend this book to other people? Sure. It's well written and in the end, it left me profoundly uncomfortable (and that's a good thing; it's one of those "afflict the comfortable" type of books).

Go and see what the other tourists had to say:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Amy Browning
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

This does not inspire confidence...

As I wrote in my previous post, our home computer broke the Saturday before Easter. We took the tower in to Best Buy's Geek Squad to see if they could suss out what was wrong and either repair it or pronounce it dead. The tower would beep three times, wait a few seconds, and then repeat the same sequence. It reminded me a little of Morse Code.

At any rate, the resident Geek who checked it in said that either the memory had gone bad or the motherboard had died. If it was the former, we'd just replace the RAM and move on. If it was the latter, well, then the computer was DOA and we'd need to get a new one.

This past Friday, we finally heard back from them and we were told that the motherboard was, indeed, dead. They had attempted replacing the RAM and had no luck. So yesterday I bought a new desktop with a bit more oomph to it (twice the RAM, better graphics card, faster processor) and asked the Geeks to transfer the old hard drive into an external case. This afternoon, I was able to pick up the new computer and the old hard drive. They also handed over the "case notes" for the old computer. I think they forgot to remove some of the paperwork. I found this note in the file:

In case you're having trouble reading it, the first entry reads "Have no idea why unit is like this." Someone else wrote under it, "My suggestion would be to turn it on and investigate the issues." Three days later, the writer of the original entry added "Unit beeps when turned on."

Three. Days. Later.

This does not inspire confidence.

Wordcount Wednesday

I should have known better. I said last week that I hoped I'd be able to get Failstate done for my birthday. Yeah, that didn't happen. Part of the reason is Holy Week. It was foolish of me to think that I'd be able to wrap things up and add on the however many words I need during one of the busiest times of the year for me.

But then our tempermental computer decided it would be a great time for its latest breakdown.

About two years ago we upgraded our home computer and bought an HP Pavilion something-or-other. It's an odd machine. It suffers from occasional slow-downs. Well, that's actually a misnomer. "Occasional" in this case means "at least once a month" and "slow-downs" means "crawls along at a pace that makes me think it'll crash at any moment." I've gotten to know the folks at the local Best Buy Geek Squad quite well since purchasing this machine. The maddening thing was, the Geeks couldn't pinpoint the problem. Sure, the computer would be slow for them when I brought it in, but they would never be able to find anything actually wrong with it, neither hardware nor software.

Things got a little better when I upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 but the problems still persisted. The difference was, now the slow-downs did become occasional and they usually resolved themselves within a few hours. I figured things were looking up.

That is until this past Saturday when the computer crashed and, when I restarted it, it would only beep at me. That's a new one.

I called the Geeks and they suggested I bring it in. After looking it over, I was told it was probably one of two things. It was either bad memory (which could be fixed fairly easily) or a bad motherboard (which can't be fixed). With no computer in the house starting Saturday evening and stretching through Tuesday, I got very little writing done this week. I had to bring my laptop home from church to do any at all.

But I did get some done. As of right now, Failstate is 80,225 words long and, I'm guessing, will stretch out to at least a hundred thousand words when all is said and done. I'm thinking that will come down once I begin the rewriting process. We'll have to see.

And while I was computer-less, I tried to figure out the ending to this book. I have three "major events" that have to take place. I have a gaggle of lesser events that have to happen as well. And a week ago, I had no idea how they would all line up. I've got a better idea now, at least good enough to proceed.

As for my self-imposed birthday deadline . . . yeah, not happening. I am cautiously optimistic I might have this done by the end of the month, though. Having said that, of course, it'll be at least until Memorial Day before I'm done.

Oh, and as far as the computer is concerned, I'm kind of torn. I honestly don't know what I'm hoping for. On the one hand, I'd hate to have to spend a lot of money to replace it and go through the work of transferring all my data to a new one. But at the same time, it might be a blessing in disguise to drop this lemon and try again. Best Buy actually has a much better system (twice the memory and a better graphics card) on sale this week for about what we paid for the broken desktop, so there's an option if worse came to worse. I checked in with the Geeks earlier today and it sounded like they were in the middle of the diagnostic. So hopefully I'll know sometime tomorrow what the verdict is.

Of course, if I do wind up with a new tower, that means I'll be even more distracted from my writing. Sigh. I guess I just can't win this month. Happy birthday to me.

Son of Hamas

You know, by and large, I'm relatively apolitical. I'm not sure that politics or government can solve the world's problems. It doesn't matter who is in power or what kind of ideals they're trying to pursue, government isn't the solution. Doesn't matter what size, doesn't matter how much or how little they interfere or help with people's lives. The problems of the world will just go on.

My attitude is especially true when it comes to Israel. I can't say that I'm an expert on the region. I'm not even sure I want to or could choose sides in the on-going conflicts. Yes, the Palestinian terrorists have blood on their hands but then, so do the Israelis. Add to that the fact that I'm an ardent amillennialist who believes that any divinely granted Jewish claim on the Holy Land was invalidated back in the days of the First Temple and that the Holy Land doesn't have a role to play in salvation history anymore, and you can see why I'm not all that worked up about it. So far as I'm concerned, Israel and Palestine should be able to co-exist peacefully side by side. Give the Palestinians at least some of the land that was stolen from them and allow them to have an actual state.

But at the same time, when I heard about the book Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef, I had to read it. It was a sort of snap decision and one that I don't regret. It's taken me a while to get around to reading this one, but I'm glad I did.

Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of one of Hamas's founders. He grew up in the unique position of seeing this organization become a terrorist threat to Israel. More than that, because of his association, he had to endure torture (or, at the very least, harsh interrogations) at the hands of the Israelis. He also saw the horrors that Hamas inflicted upon their own people. It was enough to make him willing to work for Shin Bet, informing on Hamas and doing his best to bring down the terrorists while protecting his father. More interesting for me was the fact that this decision was also influenced by Yousef slowly becoming a Christian.

I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to find out when I read this book. I certainly didn't think that Yousef was an incarnation of James Bond or Evan Bourne. I mean, come on, those are fictional stories. There's not a lot of action in this book, but that's okay, because Yousef opens his family and his culture to his readers, giving us glimpses of what life is like in the occupied West Bank. He shares his frustration with how the Palestinian leaders seemed to sell out their own people, content to pursue power and influence rather than peace.

So if you've got an interest in the Middle East and Israel in particular, I'd say you can't go wrong with this book. I learned quite a bit and I know that Yousef, his family, and his people will be in my prayers. After all, there is only one who can legitimately be called the Prince of Peace. Would that everyone who seeks peace turned to Him first.

Legends of the Guardian-King Revisited

This one took me a while to get through, a lot longer than I thought it would. Since I recently revisited The Sword of Lyric series, I decided I would take a swing through another Christian fantasy series, namely Karen Hancock's critically acclaimed Legends of the Guardian-King series. This one has four books, namely The Light of Eidon, The Shadow Within, Shadow Over Kiriath, and Return of the Guardian-King. This would be at least the second time I've read them all (I can't recall how many times I read the first two; possibly multiple times each new book came out). I've really enjoyed this series in the past and it's always lurked in the back of my mind to be reread at some point.

The overall story follows young Abramm Kalladorne, a member of the royal family of Kiriath. Abramm begins his journey, both spiritual and otherwise, as a member of a religious order called the Mataio. The Mataio worship a god named Eidon whose son, Tersius, supposedly sacrificed Himself to create a phenomenon called the Holy Flames, a mystical fire that keeps the dreaded Shadow at bay. But before Abramm knows what's happening, he's caught up in political intrigue and deception. Who can he trust as his life is torn from his grasp.

Soon he's on a crazy journey, one that he never thought he'd take. It's definitely not one that he wants to take, as it takes him on a phenomenal rise to power and brings him into a romance with a princess from the neighboring kingdom of Chesedh. And finally, he finds himself in an epic showdown with the forces of evil.

I don't want to say more than that because even though these books have been out for a few years now, you never know when someone unfamiliar might stumble across this blog and I certainly don't want to ruin anything for them. Nor do I want to bust my Godzilla spoiler sign every time I write a review.

So was this read-through just as good as the first one. It was. I still marvel at Hancock's willingness to write some darker and edgier Christian fiction. I remember the first time I read The Light of Eidon, my eyebrows nearly launched off my face at the way one chapter ended. Another character has to deal with what can only be described as clinical depression over the way her life has turned out. This is no happy romp through gilded fields, that's for sure.

Due to its edginess, Hancock deals with weightier issues and, as a result, I think the faith content is a bit stronger than in some Christian books. The best part is, these weightier topics are dealt with in a way that isn't too preachy, always a plus.

But there were two things that bothered me this second time through. One deals with craft, the other with theology.

Craft first. Hancock created an incredibly rich and detailed world for this series. She gave a lot of thought to history, cultures, religion, and so on. That's good; it's something that should be done for a fantasy epic like this one. The problem is that she often introduced new concepts and ideas with little or no warning, dropping them into the story as if the reader should just automatically know what it is she's talking about.

A few examples: in the second book, she starts talking about kohals and Terstmeets with very little explanation as to what they are. The reader has to piece it together quickly that kohals are pastors and Terstmeets are "worship services" or "Bible studies" or something along those lines. In the fourth book, out of nowhere, we're introduced to something called a "warmstar," a cousin to the Terstans kelistars (another term that was introduced out of the blue). I'm not saying that Hancock has to hold our hands as we walk through her world; far from it. But a little gentler landing might have been nice.

More problematic for me was the theological concern that slowly reared its head as I read these books again, and it has to deal with the bizarre way that Chesedhan Terstans are portrayed, specifically the royal family.

Five of them are said to be devout Terstans. And apparently they worship differently in Chesedh than in Kiriath. We're told that Chesedhan worship services have altars and gilded kelistar holders. In other words, it sounds a lot more liturgical than the Kiriathan worship services. As I read through the last three books, I kept getting this image that Kiriathan Terstmeets were non-denominational worship services and Chesedhan worship was more traditional, liturgical services.

Now this, in and of itself, would not bother me. I understand that it's a matter of adiaphora in the real world and I'd be willing to chalk it up to cultural differences in the books. But the way Hancock portrays it, I was a little offended.

Here's the reason why: we meet five members of the Chesedhan royal family. Four of them go to the more formal and liturgical kirikhal services. They seem to prefer them, as a matter of face. One of them prefers the Kiriathan Terstmeets. And by the end of the series, the four royals with the liturgical disposition lose their faith and are crushed by the enemy. Only those who go to the apparently better Terstmeets can survive the assaults of Moroq (the devil analogue in the series). Even worse, Moroq, it turns out, wishes that the surviving royal would go to the kirkhal (the implicit reason being her faith will weaken and she'll fall).

I'm sorry, but that's not cool. Maybe I'm reading into things here, but the implied message seems to be that traditional, liturgical worship is somehow inferior to non-liturgical, so-called "contemporary" worship (a misnomer if I've ever heard one; all worship is "contemporary" since it's happening right now) and those who use altars and candlesticks somehow will not be as strong in their faith as someone who doesn't.

Now, like I said, I may be overreacting to this. Maybe. But this does point to a larger problem in Christian fiction, namely the lack of theological diversity in these fictional worlds. Everything has to be shoved into the same cookie-cutter form when there's a lot of rich diversity out there in worship forms and practices. It'd be nice if the CBA would reflect that better.

But I'll get off my high horse soapbox now. My concerns over Terstmeets vs. kirkhals didn't derail my enjoyment of this series and I would gladly recommend it to just about anyone. If you're in the mood for some epic fantasy with some solid Christian roots, this is a great one for you.

8-bit Doctor Horrible

This is just beyond awesome:

May the laugh track be with you

Lucasfilm is working on developing a Star Wars sitcom.

About the only thing keeping me from weeping and pulling my hair out is the fact that they're bringing in folks from Robot Chicken to consult. The Chicken crew did some awesome work on their Star Wars specials, so hopefully they'll keep this absurd project interesting.