God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck

As I've said before, I'm not the most political of people. I'd like to think that my faith informs my politics, but I'm extremely uncomfortable with the way that the political right has tried to disguise itself as somehow more Christian than the left. I'm even more uncomfortable with the way that Christians are embracing Glenn Beck as some sort of spokesperson when Beck is an avowed Mormon.

But Dr. Russell D. Moore pretty much hit it on the head for me with a recent post, and I'll leave it here for you to read and think about.

Harry Potter revisited

Seems like lately, I've been going over road previously traveled. Well, I've been intending to go down this road for a while and I figured, now's the time to do it. Just now, I finished the final book in the Harry Potter series. Like I said, I've been meaning to re-read the series for a while. We actually bought a box-set close to a year ago in a clearance sale at a closing bookstore.

I can still remember reading the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, right after it came out. I spent a marathon day, devouring the text. At the time, I marveled at how J. K. Rowling had sown seeds for the eventual climax throughout the other six books. So that was one thing I definitely wanted to track: how well could someone who has read all seven books see the seeds?

So let's talk about what I found. Did I have fun? Absolutely. I devoured the books, most of them in less than 24 hours. I couldn't stop reading them. The characters were fun, the stories exciting, and the interactions were fun. And yes, I could see glimmers of the eventual climax scattered throughout. For example, Tom Riddle's diary in Chamber of Secrets carried hints of its real identity. Harry's connection with Voldemort and how it was forged popped up several times as well.

Having said that, though, there were things that bothered me as I read through this series again. For starters, there was Rowling's love of speeches. Especially toward the end, it seemed like everyone had to have a chance to deliver long, involved soliloquies. And in some cases (The Goblet of Fire) these speeches were largely repetitive in their content. Different people repeated the same thing several times.

Also problematic were the stereotypical characters. None of the main ones, certainly, but many of the secondary characters were simply flat, two-dimensional jokes that flitted around the background. Think Wood, Harry's Quidditch captain his first several years. This also cropped up in the odd way Rowling handled the accents of Hagrid, Fleur, and Viktor Krum. Krum's especially bothered me, what with all the "v" substitutes. Made me think he and Chekhov from Star Trek had traded their Vs and Ws.

What bothered me more was the moral decay that pops up in Harry. In Order of the Phoenix, I was particularly put off by how angry Harry had gotten. I mean, I get it. He's a teenage boy going through the normal adolescent haze of hormones, but there were several times I wanted to smack him upside the head because of how foul he was. And I especially didn't like the way he resorted to the Unforgivable Curses in the final book (the same thing is true for when Professor McGonagall uses one in the final book as well). Given what we learned of the three Unforgivables in Goblet of Fire, it sullies the heroes when they use them (and in Harry's case, repeatedly).

One final word: I really think that Rowling dropped the ball in regard to the Deathly Hallows. But before I explain why, I'd better break out Godzilla . . .

Granted, it's been a few years since the series has been completed, but better safe than sorry, right?

Anyway, in the final book, it's revealed that Harry's Invisibility Cloak, which had been his father's before him, is really one of the titular Deathly Hallows, items of great magical power. You can tell because, according to Rowling's text, other invisibility cloaks wear out, their abilities fade over time, whereas Harry's doesn't.

Small problem: this is information that we should have earlier in the series. Throughout the rest of the books, Harry's cloak is treated like any other, one of many. Nobody comments on how unique it is, making it feel as though Rowling just tacked on this information in the final book, to give Harry a further quest than just finding and breaking horcruxes.

Which brings me to another complaint, specifically about the final book. The Hallows, in many ways, turn out to be colossal MacGuffins, items of no real import. Yes, I know that the Elder Wand proved to be central to how Harry defeated Voldemort (in a twist that still strikes me as too convoluted and twisted for its own good), but the other two are needless additions, really, stuff that bloats the book.

That's actually another problem with the later books in the series. There's too much. You'd almost think that Rowling was being paid per word.

Oh well. I guess the real question that I'm left with is this: will these books turn out to be classics, the kind of books that are reprinted for decades, with new generations discovering them? Maybe. I have no idea. The real test, I think, will be what happens after the Deathly Hallows movies come out.

Anyway, on to new books, I guess. But it certainly was fun to spend a week back at Hogwarts again.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Favorites" Day Three

So we've been talking favorites this week, right? What are our favorite Christian speculative books? Well, for me, my real favorites haven't been published yet because my real favorites are the ones that I've written.

I've technically got three up my sleeve: The Last Expedition, Numb, and Failstate. No luck on getting them published yet, but I'm hopeful. If you want to learn more about any of them, just check out my previous entries. Best place to look is under my Wordcount Wednesday posts.

But that's all I'm going to say about that. I actually feel guilty for even bringing it up. I don't want to seem like I'm prideful or boasting, but the simple fact of the matter is that I not only read Christian spec fic, I write it too. The two are interrelated. So if we're talking about favorites, I need to bring up my own.

Go and see what the rest of the tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Jeff Chapman
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
George Duncan
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Mike Lynch
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
Donita K. Paul
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Jason Waguespac
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour: "Favorites" Day Two

Yesterday I lost myself a little. Get me talking . . . er . . . typing about my favorite books and I could keep going and going. So today, I decided I would limit myself to a trilogy (sorry, I can't seem to stay away from the series!) that maybe not many people have heard of.

Let me set the stage for you. Shortly after I discovered Firebird by Kathy Tyers, I was once again looking through the Christian Book Distributors catalog, trying to find some great speculative fiction books. Sadly, at the time, there wasn't much to choose from. The only thing I could find was a "grab bag" box. They would toss half a dozen books into a box from a given genre and mail it to you. I suspect it was there way of cleaning out their warehouse, but there you go. At the time, I figured it was worth a shot and placed my order.

I honestly can't remember most of what was in that grab bag. Most of it deserved to be there, truth be told. But there was a diamond in the rough: Children in the Night by Harold Myra. After reading it, I immediately placed an order for the other two books in the trilogy, namely The Shining Face and Morning Child.

Imagine a world of darkness. That's where a young man, Yosha, and a young woman, Asel, live. They and their people live deep underground, trapped in perpetual and absolute darkness. They've been banished there by their God. But hope comes to their world in a cripple who claims to be from the world above. Soon Yosha and Asel are on a great adventure, one that might lead them to the one thing they've never seen: real light.

I love these books! It's been a long time since I've read them (I may have to change that), but I remember being amazed at how Myra built his whole series around the Biblical metaphor of light and darkness. He also worked in both the active and passive obedience of Christ. While Morning Child, the third book, isn't as good as the other two, it doesn't drag down the other two.

The sad thing is, I believe these books have been out-of-print for over a decade now. You might be able to snag used copies via Amazon, following the above links. Definitely do so if you can. Me, I'm thinking I may have to add these to my to-be-read pile again.

Go and see what the other tourists are sharing:

Brandon Barr
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Jeff Chapman
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
George Duncan
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Mike Lynch
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Jason Waguespac
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour: "Favorites" Day One

Howdy hey, blogosphere citizens! This month, the Christian Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Tour isn't focusing on just one book. It's focusing on many books. This month, the tourists are talking about our personal favorites. What Christian speculative fiction books do we love? That's awesome, right?

Not so much if you're me. See, I've got commitment issues when it comes to naming favorites. Ask anyone who knows me. I don't have one favorite Bible passage. I've got like two dozen of them (and I can't even figure out which ones are in the top ten). Favorite movie? Couldn't tell you, there are so many that are good. Favorite musical act? Sorry, can't help you there either. So to ask me to talk about my one, absolute, take-it-with-me-to-a-deserted-island book? Yeah, that's not going to happen simply because I don't even know what my favorite is.

But my lack of commitment does not mean that I can't talk about the books that I've enjoyed over the years. So let's see here . . .

Well, we have to start with the Firebird Trilogy by Kathy Tyers. This is the series that really got me hooked on the genre. Well, sort of. When I was in high school, I discovered the writings of Frank Peretti and that gave me a taste of speculative fiction goodness. But it was shortly after my ordination that I fell in love with Christian speculative fiction, and it's largely thanks to the writings of Tyers.

I still remember how it happened. I was on my computer (big surprise there) at the Christian Book Distributors website. I was browsing by genre, sorting through all the speculative fiction (which, at the time, was mostly just reprints of Tolkein and Lewis). But in the middle of it all was a trilogy of books, written by an author whose name looked familiar. Where had I heard of Kathy Tyers before? I looked to my left, up to my collection of Star Wars novels, and realized that Tyers had written The Truce at Bakura. Truth be told, it wasn't my favorite Star Wars story, but I remember thinking, Huh. So she wrote a Christian novel as well? On a complete whim, I ordered the first book in the trilogy, figuring that it'd be worth checking out.

After reading that first book, I ordered the other two and never looked back. I really appreciated the story and the way that Tyers handled it. And it was this trilogy that set me on my own path toward getting published. I had already been working on a Christian sci-fi trilogy of my own, but I'm not sure how serious I was about trying to get published. That changed after reading Tyers. Firebird will always hold a special place on my bookshelf.

Although I may have to upgrade soon. I'm sure we've all seen the news that Marcher Lord Press has signed Tyers to not only republish the original Firebird trilogy but two new novels as well. Normally I wouldn't buy copies of books I already have, but in this case, I'm making an exception.

As long as we're talking about series, let's talk about another one, namely The Legends of the Guardian-King by Karen Hancock. I recently re-read the series just a few months ago, so it's still fresh in my mind. You can read my thoughts here. I'll just say this for now: I appreciate the more mature spiritual themes that Hancock wove into the story. So much of Christian speculative fiction seems to be geared for younger audiences (not a complaint; if that's who's reading it, all well and good).

And of course, there's also Sharon Hinck's awesome Restorer trilogy. Back in February, I revisited that series as well. Funny story: the way I learned about Sharon's trilogy was from my wife's high school's alumni newletter. Turns out Sharon and my darling wife went to the same school, just not at the same time. So I kept my eyes out for it since I like supporting authors from my denomination.

And then there's Chris Walley's The Lamb Among the Stars trilogy! A great sci-fi series with some fantasy interwoven with it. While I don't agree with the series postmillennial bent, it was creative and exciting. And then there's Jill Williamson's two books, By Darkness Hid and To Darkness Fled, both worthy of Christys to be sure! And . . . and . . . and . . .

You see what I mean? I've got too many favorites! Don't make me pick just one!

Ahem. Sorry. Lost control there for a little while. Come on back tomorrow. I promise I'll be good. And I'll talk about another of my favorites trilogies, one you might not have heard of.

In the meantime, check out what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Jeff Chapman
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
George Duncan
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Mike Lynch
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
Donita K. Paul
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Jason Waguespac
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Voice Talkers

I just saw this awesome video via the wonder of the "Best of YouTube" podcast. And now I pass on my enjoyment to you:

The Birthright Project Revisited

Once again, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and pull out some books that I hadn't read for a while (in this case, it turns out, for four years! Wow!). So I dove back into the ruined world left by the Endless Wars and went out on missions with the good folks of the Birthright Project. That's right, I'm talking about Outriders and Trackers, both books by Kathryn Mackel.

It didn't take me long to remember why I loved these books so much. In a far-distant future, the world is a ruined place. A series of man-made disasters known as the Endless Wars have ravaged the planet. The only form of technology to survive the cataclysm are genetically engineered cell lines. The survivors of the Wars believe them to be magic and use them to transmogrify plants and animals into horrendous living weapons. It's a hard world, a violent world, a place where hope has died.

But all is not lost. God has called a faithful remnant to shelter in a second Ark, one buried deep beneath the Arctic ice. This last bastion of faith and technology must remain hidden, secreted away so the grasping lords of the ruined world can't unlock its secrets. But God doesn't want His people to hide forever. They're called on to send out their children into the harsh world to track down the untainted survivors of the Endless Wars. They are to reclaim as much of humanity's original birthright as possible.

These two books follow the members of the Birthright Project at their first camp, a valley settlement called Horesh. In the first book, Outriders, the brash Niki is sent to retrieve new "rooks," children sent out from the Ark to join the project while Brady, the leader of Horesh, needs to deal with a headstrong woman named Ajoba, a member of his team who insists on doing things her own way, even if that means putting the entire camp in the sights of Alrod, the Baron of Traxx.

In the second book, Trackers, the team at Horesh have many problems to solve (all of which I can't go into really, not without dropping some major spoilers from the first book). Suffice it to say that Ajoba is still struggling with pride, Brady is still flummoxed by his conflicted feelings for another member of his team, and a young man named Timothy is driven by desires he can't quite contain. How's that for a vague back-cover copy?

At any rate, I loved these books, primarily because they're so fresh and original. Mackel was willing to spin a very different version of the future, one that's both bleak and yet somewhat hopeful. What I really appreciate is that while there are smatterings of eschatology in the story, it's not the cookie-cutter dispensational premillennialism that's come to be standard in Christian fiction. It's a unique take, a Christian post-apocalyptic adventure. And it's a lot of good fun.

There really is only one downside to this series: it's incomplete. It's pretty obvious at the end of the second and "final" book that Mackel had more story to tell. But maybe it's not too late.

The Christian publishing world (or at least our little corner of it) was rocked recently at the news that Marcher Lord Press had signed a deal with Kathy Tyers, the author of the fantastic Firebird series, to not only republish the original trilogy but also to publish a new book in that universe. Maybe Mackel's Birthrighters can find a home at Marcher Lord as well.

We'll find aliens in 25 years?

This news story caught my eye. Apparently some astronomer believes that if we're going to find evidence of extra-terrestrial life, we'll do so within the next twenty-five years. Apparently it has something to do with a big telescope in California that'll come on-line within the next five years or so.

More problematic for me is that the scientist in question is relying on the infamous Drake equation as his proof. For those of you not in-the-know, the Drake equation is this:



Basically you plug in numbers and the equation should spit out the number of alien civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy that would be capable of contacting us.

There's one small problem: the numbers a person uses are entirely arbitrary. There's no agreed upon number for any of those factors. The article itself even talks about how famous scientists, including Drake himself, have come up with estimates from 10,000 to 1,000,000. And if those scientists are really honest with themselves, they'd have to admit that they're only guessing.

Now does that mean that I think there aren't any aliens out there? Not at all. The universe is a big place and I'm not God. That may sound like an odd pairing of statements, but what I mean is this: there's a lot of room for God to stick alien life. If He did, great. If not, no big deal either. But it'll be interesting to see what the SETI folks find.

BioShock Infinite?

Huh. I guess another BioShock game is in the offing. If so, I'll be there.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Chalk this up as a bandwagon book. I had seen Stieg Larsson's books in stores but had no idea what they were about. Then a few months ago, Entertainment Weekly did a big cover story on them and it piqued my interest. So I placed a request for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo via my local library. If I remember correctly, I wound up like #500 in line, so I was in for a bit of a wait.

Well, the wait ended earlier this week and I plowed through it. And, truth be told, I'm not sure what to make of it.

The story is that of Mikael Blomkvist, a Swedish financial reporter whose life comes to a crashing halt thanks to a libel charge leveled against him by an industry magnate. His reputation in ruins, Blomkvist is contracted by a wealthy individual to solve a decades-old mystery.

Back in the '60s, a young woman named Harriet Vanger disappeared from an isolated village. No one knows what happened to her, but Blomkvist's employee, Harriet's uncle, is sure that she was murdered. He wants Blomkvist to go over all the evidence and determine what, exactly, happened to Harriet. It requires Blomkvist to dig through a family's deepest secrets.

It's also the story of a troubled young woman named Lisbeth Salander (the titular girl, as it were), who works for a private security firm. It's pretty obvious that Salander's and Blomkvist's paths will cross at some point. When they finally do, the lives of everyone involved will be overturned.

To be quite honest, it took me a long time to warm up to this book. For the first hundred pages or so, I was sure I was going to give up on it. I don't know if it's a translation problem or what, but the writing just felt kind of dry and flat. It seemed like every time a new character appeared, Larsson had to put the action (such as it was) on hold so he could give the new arrival's entire personal history. There were tons of infodumps throughout the entire book. I mean, lots of them.

But here's the screwy thing. In spite of the preponderance of telling as opposed to showing, in spite of the myriad infodumps, in spite of an extremely convenient revelation that came out of thin air, the story grew on me. After slogging through the first hundred pages, I began to be . . . well, not engaged, necessarily, but maybe curious. And the curiosity grew into genuine interest. And pretty soon, I had to finish the book. I had to know what happened to Harriet. I had to find out what would happen to Blomkvist. And I wanted to see what Lisbeth would do next.

I'm glad that I finished the book. Larsson crafted an interesting story. But it seems like he did so by breaking a ton of rules. Maybe it's a cross-cultural thing, I don't know. Like I said, there was one part that I don't buy at all and it's fairly important to the plot, so much so that I'm not sure I can go into detail. Overall, it was an interesting read. But I'm not sure if I'll be checking out the rest of the series.

New profile picture

I don't get all caught up in changing my profile picture every five minutes, but today, the spirit moved me (and note, I didn't capitalize it; I don't think the Holy Spirit had anything to do with my desire to change the picture that represents me on the web).

But in honor of the fact that the good folks at Steam decided to update my copy of Plants vs. Zombies to the new Game of the Year edition, I have changed my profile pic to something I crafted with their new Zombatar function:



I think it's a decent likeness, don't you?

Now THERE'S a reality show

Apparently a production company is trying to sell a reality show where Levi Johnston will run for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Right, because that will lend credibility to American politics.

Confessions of a Tea Party Casulty

I'm largely apolitical. I vote in presidential elections and I read Time Magazine weekly to keep an eye on what's going on in Washington and elsewhere. But I'm not a poli-junkie by any stretch of the imagination. Truth be told, my take toward politics is Mercutio-like. You know, "a pox on both your houses." Neither side of the aisle in American politics are saints and I find areas of agreement with both parties, making me a slightly right-leaning independent, I guess.

But what I read in this article about what happened to Representative Bob Inglis of South Carolina has me worried. It would appear that the Republicans are being driven to an extreme edge and that's not good.

For me, I really appreciated what he said about what he calls the Ninth Commandment (but me, being a Lutheran and all, would call the Eighth):

I refused to [call President Obama a "socialist"] because I have this view that the Ninth Commandment must mean something. I remember one year Bill Clinton—the guy I was out to get [when serving on the House judiciary committee in the 1990s]—at the National Prayer Breakfast said something that was one of the most profound things I've ever heard from anybody at a gathering like that. He said, "The most violated commandment in Washington, DC"—everybody leaned in; do tell, Mr. President—"is, 'Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.'" I thought, "He's right. That is the most violated commandment in Washington." For me to go around saying that Barack Obama is a socialist is a violation of the Ninth Commandment. He is a liberal fellow. I'm conservative. We disagree...But I don't need to call him a socialist, and I hurt the country by doing so. The country has to come together to find a solution to these challenges or else we go over the cliff.

I couldn't agree more. Those in both parties who call themselves Christians should keep the Eighth/Ninth Commandment (however you number the Big Ten) in mind whilst doing political discourse. And remembering such gems as Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 wouldn't hurt either.

But that's just this apolitical centrist's grubby little opinion and one, I suspect, that would get lost in the generally angry clamor of our current political landscape.

Batman: Arkham City

So just now, I'm puttering around Facebook and I saw a post by actress Stana Katic that the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum will be coming out in 2011. And she even posted a few links to other articles.

I clicked over to IGN immediately to see what I could learn. And boy howdy, am I excited now!

For starters, apparently in the sequel, we'll be heading to Gotham City, which is being used as some sort of prison for super criminals (?!?). I'm not sure if I buy that, but hey, what do I know? We'll see Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, and Talia al Ghul (voiced by Stana Katic, hence why she was posting).

But there was one piece of news that made me sad inside. Mark Hamill will be back as the voice of the Joker . . . but this will be the last time. That's a true shame. Hamill was excellent as the Joker and has been for over a decade now. He's set the bar incredibly high for whoever comes after him.

One thing I do know, though: I'll be sure to get my grubby little mitts on this game when it comes out. Because if it's even a fraction as good as the original, it's going to be one of the best of 2011.

The Christian Atheist

This one caught my attention when I saw it sitting on the bookshelf in the Christian bookstore. Maybe it was the simple red cover. Or the title. Whatever the "it" factor was, my hand reached out, seemingly of its own accord, and plucked The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel down. Then I saw the subscript (or would it be superscript?) above the title: "Believing in God but Living as If He Doesn't Exit." Hmmmmm. Intriguing.

So I flipped to the table of contents to see what kind of subjects Groeschel would cover. The chapters got to me next. "When You Believe in God but Don't Really Know Him." "When You Believe in God but Not in Prayer." "When You Believe in God but Pursue Happiness at Any Cost." I heard faint echoes of myself in those chapters and I knew I had to bring this book home and read it.

I'm glad I did. Pastor Groeschel's basic premise is that there are two kinds of atheists in the world today. There are the honest atheists, who don't believe in God and don't have a problem telling you that in both word and deed. And then there are the Christian atheists, people who profess to have faith and can talk the talk with the best of them, but their lives tell a completely different story. They say they have faith but in reality, all they have is an act. Groeschel's purpose is to shine the light of Christ into these so-called believers' lives and help them see where their faith is false.

He certainly doesn't pull any punches. He goes after attitudes that are quite prevalent in modern, American Christianity and tries to expose them as the lies that they are. But he does so with a pastor's heart, with a great deal of wit and humble insight because, as he explains early on, even though he was a pastor of large church, he too was a Christian atheist. He's been there and now he wants to help others shed this empty faith and come to true belief in God.

Now there were a few times when I thought that Groeschel made things a bit too simplistic, maybe a bit too basic, but then I realized that the people who would need to read this the most would need that grounding in basic Christianity. But even still, what he had to say was a refreshing reminder for me as well, because as much as I hate to admit it, I saw myself lurking in those pages. I too have harbored atheistic attitudes in the way I've lived my life and with the help of God's grace, I'm hoping I can do better.

What I really hope I can do is make it to what Groeschel calls "third line" faith. And I'm not going to explain what that means here. Instead, I'm going to urge you to get the book yourself and see what Groeschel's discomforting mirror reflects back to you. Trust me. It'll be good for you.

Send Oboe Music!

Okay, so I've mentioned my friend Lauren (aka "OboeCrazy") before. She runs a musical version of Twitter called Musiter. She's also the voice of "This Week in Geek" on one of my favorite podcasts, The Late Nite Jengajam.

Anyway, Oboe is apparently moving from Akron, Ohio, to Seattle, Washington, next week. She's driving the whole way and she's looking for some rather unique help.

Oboe needs music.

That's right, she's looking for people to send her music that she will dump into her MP3 player and listen to on her cross-country trek. She promises to listen to it the whole way, so long as the file size is under 20 MB. She also says she'll post reactions to some of the more interesting selections that pop up for her.

I've already sent her a few files. Won't you join me? Here's the link to her trip page. Send Oboe some music so she doesn't go crazy while she's driving across our great nation. Or send her music that ensures she'll go crazy. I don't know. Just make her life more musical!

Starcraft 2

So late last night I finished my first playthrough of Starcraft 2's campaign mode. I figured I'd come over to the my little corner of the Internet and share my thoughts.

I love Blizzard games. I've played just about every Warcraft game. I played through both of the original Starcraft games. And I still struggle with latent urges to go back to World of Warcraft (the fact that they included two free 10-day passes with Starcraft 2 definitely did not help!). I was a bit ambivalent about getting Starcraft 2 initially. It had been close to a decade since I played the originals. But hey, I still had fond memories of the original and I figured I'd have to try out the new one.

In this long-anticipated sequel, the gamer plays as Jim Raynor, former Confederate marshal and now a rebel against the Terran Dominion. Jim is haunted by memories of his former girlfriend, Sarah Kerrigan, now the vile Queen of Blades and leader of the Zerg. Through a series of missions, you must lead your forces against both the Zerg and the Terran Dominion and occasionally the elusive Protoss, culminating in a massive showdown that could radically alter the course of the galaxy.

I was actually surprised at how complex the story of this game was. The original Starcraft games had decent stories, I suppose. Again, it's been a while since I've played them so I can't say for certain. What set the sequel apart were the numerous video cutscenes included in the story. They had little video snippets between every mission that drove forward the story.

What I did find odd was Blizzard's choice to only put in the Terran storyline. In the first two games, players were given three different storylines to play, one as the Terrans, one as the Zerg, and one as the Protoss. But in this game, you only play as the Terrans in the campaign (although there are about half a dozen missions where you play as the Protoss, which was a nice surprise). I'm not sure if I'm complaining about that or not. On the one hand, it worked okay, I suppose. The story they told was able to be longer and a bit more complex. But I do miss being able to play through a campaign to get a feel for a race's units. I know what the Terran units can do, by and large. I have an inkling about the Protoss units. I have no idea how the Zerg units function yet. If I had a Zerg campaign mode (or even one level) to play, I'd feel more confident choosing them, but oh well. I'm griping a bit, I know. From what I understand, the story will continue in future installments that focus on only the Zerg and the Protoss. At this time, I'm not sure if I'll be getting those. Price will be a big factor.

One of the cool additions is the fact that at the end of most quest lines, you're given a choice. Do you side with person A or person B. Apparently this alters how the final mission plays out and subtly changes the story (I'm guessing) and what units you have available. This means that to see everything, I'll have to go back and replay the entire story again, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

They also encourage replaying through their achievements system. I've earned a few making it through the first time, but there are achievements that you can only get by playing levels a certain way on certain difficulties, meaning that if I want to be obsessive and try to get them all, I'll have to start at the beginning and fight for them.

In terms of graphics, the game is a lot more flashy and beautiful. Rather than being stuck in only two dimensions, the game now utilizes three. There are times when only certain units can get to a place to finish a job. The individual levels are varied in terms of their locations and objectives. I didn't ever feel like I was playing cookie-cutter levels where the developers simply swapped out environments or changed one word to make a mission different.

I haven't spent a lot of time doing custom games against the AI and I definitely haven't wandered into the on-line play yet. I know I'd wind up getting my posterior handed to me quickly. I'm also aware that there are some long-time fans who are upset with what Blizzard didn't include in the sequel. They removed things such as LAN matches, the original chatrooms, and so on. I'm not sure that's fit-worthy, but then, I never attended a LAN party before, so I can't say for certain.

What I do know is this: I enjoyed my time back with Raynor's Raiders and I may just have to keep my eyes open for the next installment. Could be fun.

Leaper

Those of you who frequent my blog regularly know that I've been working on a Christian YA book about superheroes, one I call Failstate. I haven't posted an update about it in a while (mostly because I have very little to report; I'm in the middle of a substantial edit on the manuscript). Well, it's because of that work-in-progress that I read this book.

See, a few weeks ago, I was in a Christian bookstore and was perusing the books and I found Leaper, a book about "the misadventures of a not-necessarily-super hero." Seemed to be kind of like mine. But what had me worried was where I found Leaper, namely in the bargain bin. So I figured I'd better buy the book and see what author Geoffrey Wood had to say about superheroes from a Christian perspective.

Leaper is the story of James, an overly-caffeinated barista who one day discovers he has the power to leap through space but not time. In other words, he can instantaneously teleport himself from one point to another. After some accidental "leaps," James comes to the conclusion that God was the one who gave him this ability and that He must have so James can do good. So James sets out to "do good," whatever that means, in spite of distractions from his ex-wife, an overly perfect coworker, and a police detective who seems convinced James is up to no good.

I'm really not sure what to make of this book. On the plus side, Wood's writing is witty and he has an extremely strong voice. There are great tidbits of writing as we try to keep up with James caffeinated thought process. And I also appreciated the fact that James wasn't just another generic non-denominational Christian. He was Catholic, a nice change of pace. Would that more Christian fiction allowed for more diversity in thought and practice.

All that being said, though, I was a bit dissatisfied with this book overall. For starters, none of the characters are all that likable, including James. The only seemingly good character came off as a fake caricature at best. I kept reading the book, hoping that someone would show a glimmer of something positive, but that never seemed to happen. James especially annoyed me. While I get that his life was falling to pieces around him, I kept hoping for some redeeming quality to pop up, but instead, he just simply fell apart, only to be put back together by an odd quai-deus ex machina moment at the very end that left me feeling flat and a little out of sorts.

Also problematic was the book's point, mostly because I'm not sure it had one. I struggled with this for a while. It almost seems as if Wood's point is, "God is God. We're not good. We try to do good in our own little way." Something like that. I don't know.

Whatever the case, this was still an interesting read although, truth be told, I can kind of understand why it wound up in the bargain bin.