CSFF Blog Tour: The Shadow and Night Day One

A Millennial Primer

This month we're looking at The Shadow and Night by Chris Walley. I have to admit, this one excited me for the simple fact that it's clearly a science fiction book. I'm not sure why people classify it as "fantasy." I mean, you've got terraforming, genetic engineering, and faster-than-light travel. I saw nothing that could even remotely be construed as an elf or other fantasy-based races.

But before we go into the stories themselves, we should talk about their foundation, part of which is post-millennialism. This is a form of eschatology that doesn't get talked about all that often.

For that very reason, I thought I'd do my civic duty by offering this, a millennial primer.

For starters, we'd better define our terminology. The "millennium" is the technical term for what's referred to in Revelation 20:

"And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

"I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years." (Revelation 20:1-4, NIV)

I'm sure most of my readers are aware that there are about half a dozen different ways to interpret any passage out of Revelation, and that's certainly true of this passage as well. There are four basic "flavors" to millennialism, as illustrated by this chart:

The first category is called post-tribulation premillennialism or is also known as "historic premillennialism." As you can see from the chart, those who hold this view believe that Christ's reign will be a literal thousand year reign that kicks off immediately after the tribulation.

The second category is, by far, the loudest. It's dispensational premillennialism. If you go to any Christian bookstore and grab a book on the end times, there's a very good chance that you'll have found a book written from this viewpoint. Truth be told, I've never seen a book that didn't hold this viewpoint in a Christian bookstore.

For that reason I won't go into too much detail here. Suffice it to say, dispensational premillennialists believe that before the tribulation, the Christian Church will be raptured into heaven. The tribulation will kick off, overtaking unbelievers, the Jewish people, and anyone who converts to Christianity afterwards (including the aforementioned Jews). After seven years, Jesus will return a second time (or would it be a third time?) to set up his literal millennial kingdom.

But then, if you've read Left Behind and the subsequent books, you're familiar with this already.

That brings us to postmillennialism. Unlike both strains of premillennialists, the postmillennialists believe that Christ's return will occur after the millennium. From what I understand, most postmillennialists believe that Christ's reign will be brought about by increasing Christian influence in society. Basically things will get better and better until humanity enters into a Christian utopia.

This is the eschatology that's at the foundation of The Lamb Among the Stars, of which The Shadow and Night is the first two books. In this case, Walley obviously doesn't see the millennium as a literal thousand year reign, seeing as the Assembly has lasted a dozen times longer than that.

And finally, there's amillennialism. I once saw an assertion by Tim LaHaye (obviously tripped up by the prefix a-) that amillennialists don't believe in a millennium at all. That's simply not true. Amillennialists do believe in the millennium. It's just that they believe that the millennium has already been ushered in at Christ's death and resurrection. The "thousand years" mentioned in Revelation 20 is taken to be symbolic, not literal.

In the interest of fairness, I'll confess here and now that I'm an ardent (some might even say militant) amillennialist. I don't buy into either version of premillennialism and I think postmillenialism is too optimstic. But this isn't a critique of Walley using postmillennialism in his book.

Instead, I'm glad he did. Exploring a different theological viewpoint is always healthy. While I didn't agree with Walley on his eschatology, I certainly appreciated it and reading his stories helped me refine and hone my position a bit more.

So there you go. Millennialism. I don't know if anyone else will discuss that today. I won't bring it up tomorrow either. Well, probably not. Instead, I'll submit some reviews on the stories themselves. In the meantime, be sure to check out what other people are saying:

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

Oh, if you are interested in more information about eschatology, here's a helpful paper: The "End Times" -- A Study on Eschatology and Millennialism. This was put together by The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod's Commission on Theology and Church Relations. Very good stuff, if a bit academic.

How Evil Are You?

Not entirely appropriate for Valentine's Day, but then, I've never understood what was so romantic about a beheaded Christian martyr.

You Are 30% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well. In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

What did you think would happen?

I mean, really!

The Restorer's Son

I would have posted this review earlier, but as you can see, I had to fight to get my hands on the book.

I recently finished The Restorer's Son by Sharon Hinck. I've been interested in reading it ever since I got a sneak preview of the cover art when I interviewed Sharon.

The story started in The Restorer continues in this book. Kieran, a reluctant hero, has become the Restorer, a role he desperately wants to relinquish, especially as his life falls apart. And Susan and Mark return to the land of Lyric through the portal in a desperate search for their oldest son, Jake, who has disappeared. What will happen as Kieran discovers the One's intentions for him? Will he submit to the One's will? And where has Jake disappeared to?

Once again, Hinck delivers a rollicking good read. Lots of tension, lots of mystery, and the one nice thing is that Hinck has absolutely no problem depicting heroes as being flawed. Kieran, the new Restorer, is a perfect example. He starts out basically a functional atheist, only interested in his own survival and hostile to the One's plans. He has to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into a relationship with the One.

That's the nice thing about books like this. It's good for Christians to see that there's only one perfect hero, and that's God. Everyone else that we hold up to the light has a lot of warts. For example, this week, I'm preaching on the call of Abraham to follow God to the Promised Land. Normally I wouldn't give a sneak preview of my sermons, but it dovetails so nicely with what's going through my head right now, I have to share.

Normally when we learn about Father Abraham (has many sons, many sons has Father Abraham and I am one of them, and so are you, so let's all praise the Lord... Sorry, had to be done), we only hear three stories: the call of Abraham in Genesis 12, the story of the three visitors in Genesis 18, and finally, the almost-sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22. Those stories paint Abraham as a hero of the faith, someone who trusted in God to the point where he almost murders his own son. And then Abraham is held up as some sort of example we should emulate, often with the admonition to have the same faith.

But hold the phone! If you read the rest of the stories about Abraham, a much different picture emerges. Abraham has trust issues. He doesn't believe that God can take care of him when the going gets tough. On two separate occasions, he tries to help God out of what seems like an impossible situation. He also almost gives away the Promised Land to his nephew! When we see the complete picture of Abraham, we realize that the almost-sacrifice was the exception to the rule.

That's the thing about the folks we find in the Bible. They are not perfect saints. Not by a long shot. Noah was a sloppy drunk. Samson was a ladies man. Moses had anger issues. Peter had perpetual foot-in-mouth disease. And David? Don't even get me started on him!

What makes these men and women heroes isn't anything in them. Instead, it is God who makes them heroes and He can do the same for us through His grace, poured out for us in Christ's death and resurrection.

That's the good thing about the character's in all Hinck's novels. She presents us with people who aren't perfect but who are still heroes because of God's love for them.

So go get this book and take a look-see. It's well worth the time and effort.

CSFF Blog Tour: Auralia's Colors Day Three

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CSFF Blog Tour: Auralia's Colors Day Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CSFF Blog Tour: Auralia's Colors Day One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Doink doink!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Great Jesus Debates

Early Church history is a passing interest of mine. After all, what happened in the first couple of centuries really laid the foundation for what followed. While we may not think actively about it, a lot of what gets taught in churches nowadays are an outgrowth of the debates that raged in the early centuries.

In his book, The Great Jesus Debates, Douglas W. Johnson, examines four debates that raged in the early centuries of the Church, namely the Gnostics, the Arian controversy, the Christological debates between the schools of Antioch and Alexandria, and the war of words between Augustine and Pelagius.

I had to study these controversies in the Seminary ten years ago, so Johnson's book was a good review for me, especially for the whole Alexandria/Antioch arguments. But like I said, this is a good, easy to read book that examines what was at stake as the early Church Fathers dealt with Gnostics, Arians, and so on. If you've got even a slight interest in where the Church came from, this is one for you.

CSFF Blog Tour: Wayfarer's Journal Day Three

Whoops. The days have gotten away from me, it seems. Blame it on the new job. I don't have much time, so I'll spew my random thoughts and then it's back to planning Christmas services for me.

So what else can I say about Wayfarer's Journal? Since it is still in its infancy, it's hard to say what kind of impact it will have on the world of Christian fiction. But I noticed this afternoon that one of the current stories posted on the site relates to my point I made on Monday. Soulless by Donna Sundblad is a good example of a writer playing with a dilemma that may face Christians in the distant (or even not too distant) future. Do cloned human beings have souls since they were made in a lab?

Believe it or not, I recently had the misfortune of engaging someone in a debate over this very topic. This individual's beliefs skewed very closely to those of Pastor Haden in Sundblad's story. He was absolutely sure that clones would not have souls since they were genetic copies of another individual.

I have to applaud Sundblad's efforts in this story. She occupied Rachel's mind well enough that I seriously thought she (the author) believed that clones were indeed soulless. The sudden twist at the end was artfully put in place to reveal her true beliefs and it almost worked.

Almost. I do have a few gripes about the story itself. For starters, the fact that it's mostly a gigantic flashback of a guy preaching makes the story a little static. It's more telling than showing. It may have been more effective if Sundblad had started with Rachel leaving the church, overhearing the elderly parishioners complaints, and then heading out to meet Abigail. On the way, she could have stopped and interacted with some of these servant clones she mentions. This would have given Sundblad an opportunity to show us Rachel interacting with these people she believes are soulless. Through her actions, we could see how she looks down on them and it would have been a bit more effective.

The only other thing that bothered me was that I saw the ending coming from almost the beginning. The minute it was revealed that Rachel was adopted, I had a sneaking suspicion of what Abigail would tell her. Unfortunately, I was correct so the twist was somewhat twistless for me.

But I still think that Sundblad has hit upon what Christian sci-fi is good for. Like I said in my previous post, it allows us to examine thorny moral and ethical dilemmas before they're upon us so we can form rudimentary positions before they hit. And for that, I say kudos!

And kudos to Wayfarer's Journal as well for providing the forum. May it not be alone for long.

CSFF Blog Tour: Wayfarer's Journal Day One

You may have noticed that my location has changed. That's right, as of about a week and a half ago, my family moved from the home of the Jolly Green Giant to South Saint Paul, the home of .... uh .... I'll have to get back to you. I think present Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty was born here, but he's not many stories tall and made of fiberglass. At least, I don't think he is.

I seem to have gotten off topic a bit. Oh yeah. I moved recently. Our new home is not completely settled yet. There are boxes to be stored and pictures to be hung. So why am I at my computer, frantically typing away at a blog entry?

Because this month we're featuring Wayfarer's Journal, an on-line publication dedicated to science fiction with a spiritual edge.

I know I've harped on this in the past, but this is something that is sorely needed in Christian fiction. As Wayfarer's editor Terri Main said in a recent press release, with the ever changing technological landscape, Christians are being presented with new situations and dilemmas constantly. Wouldn't it be nice if, instead of having to deal with it in a knee-jerk, last-minute fashion, we could bat ideas around in a safe environment and see what kind of conclusions we draw?

Let me paint you a quick example. Researchers are constantly working on artificial intelligence. I don't know what they've gotten robots to do recently. Last I heard, I think they built a robot who could recognize emotions on a person's face. Personally, I won't be interested until they invent a robot that can clean our house from top to bottom (and no, Roombas don't count).

Anyway, let's say that at some point in the near future, some scientist whacks his head while hanging a clock in his bathroom and envisions how to creat a flux capacitor ... oh, wait. Wrong story. This genius scientist hits upon the quantum leap that allows a robot to think for itself. The robot is now an autonomous creature, a sentient being. We'll name the robot Gnosis (since Data is copyrighted). Would Gnosis have a soul? Could a mechanical being built in a lab by human beings be endowed with a spiritual side that seeks God? Who's to say that it (or he) can or can't?

I don't know about you, but the day Gnosis stumbles or rolls or whatever onto the scene, I'd rather have had some time to play with those thoughts and come up with some tentative answers rather than panic and go with a knee-jerk, gut-shot reaction. I mean, think of the furor that arose when human cloning became a real possibility. If we had had Christian sci-fi writers playing with that concept for a while, the Christian community might have been better suited to provide a rational, thought-out reaction.

Maybe it's just me that thinks that way. Whatever the case, I'm glad that there are more and more outlets for those of us who want to take flights of fancy into the speculative unknown.

So what will I talk about tomorrow? Probably not moving. Hopefully no more references to '80s movies. We'll just have to wait and see.

The Bark of the Bog Owl

... or really, really, really late CSFF Blog Tour! Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, I missed the original blog tour for this book. But I feel bad and I've had "review that book" at the top of my to-do list for a while now.

What book is that? The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers. The best way to sum up this book is if Mark Twain told the story of King David. Well, if Mark Twain wasn't an avowed atheist, that is.

In this book, Aidan Errolson dreams of joining the Corenwald army and becoming a warrior but the many letters he sends to King Darrow are never answered.

But Aidan's life is turned upside down in a number of ways. First of all, he meets Dobro Turtlebane, one of the feechiefolk, a group of half civilized swamp dwellers who live to fight and tussle and get into trouble. Dobro had me laughing out loud after he popped up on the scene and I absolutely adored the feechiefolk. The more of them I see, the better.

More troubling is the pronouncement by Bayard the Truthspeaker, an old man who declares that Aidan will one day be king of Corenwald. That odd prophecy sends Aidan on a wild adventure as Corenwald faces off against the Pyrthen Empire, their traditional enemy.

This was a great read (hence the reason why I've felt so guilty for not posting this review during the blog tour). Rogers captures the south and transplants the story of King David into that cultural milieu with a great deal of humor. Like I said, the feechiefolk were my favorite part and often had me laughing out loud.

The one minor complaint I had about this book is the fact that, if you knew David's story, you knew exactly what was going to happen all along the way. A little bit of deviation from the script would have been okay by me. It's not a bad thing per se, but it would have made this book spot-on perfect.

I know I won't be able to participate in the next blog tour due to the move, but I'm hoping I'll be back on board for December. And hopefully I won't get so blasted far behind again.

AWOL

Yes, I know. I've neglected my duties as a blogger. I missed the October CSFF Blog Tour (and I feel horrible about that. I.O.U. one book review which I hope to get to sometime this week). So why the disappearing act from yours truly?

Well, it's because I have a new job.

No, I haven't quit the pastoring game. Instead, I'll be pastoring in a new place soon. I was recently "called" to be pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in South Saint Paul, Minnesota. And after close to a month of deliberations, I accepted said call. So I'll soon be leaving Blue Earth and heading "up north" to the Twin Cities to start in my new position.

Needless to say, it's been a stressful month. The week of the blog tour, I was actually up in South Saint Paul meeting with the congregation to gather more data and see what kind of housing is available.

Now that I've taken the call, Jill and I need to find a house. That's proven a bit tricky. We thought we had found a great one. It had been foreclosed on and was an absolute mess, but it was in great shape under the mess. Sadly, by the time I made my decision, it had already been sold.

Yesterday we looked at six houses, five of which weren't do-able. The sixth could work but head clearance is an issue. This morning, we found another house that's a little bit pricey but could be do-able so we're hoping to look at it soon.

So anyway, a lot of stuff might be on hold for the time being as we try to figure this out. For example, I had to pass on NaNoWriMo this year because I knew there was no way I'd have time to bang out 50,000 words.

But anyway, hopefully we'll have all this figured out and will be settled in very soon.

Hopefully.

It's finally here!

Marcher Lord Press is finally here! A Christian speculative fiction-only press, dedicated to going out into the wild frontiers of fiction to see what beasties lurk and linger.

And I gotta say, I couldn't be more excited.

Especially since I started looking through the "submission" form and saw the three basic rules for submitting to MLP:

"If your completed manuscript is shorter than 65,000 words, you need not apply.
If your novel isn't in a speculative genre (like science fiction, fantasy, or the like), look elsewhere.
If your book does not arise from a Christian worldview and is not in any real sense a Christian book, please do not proceed.
Such questions are deal-breakers. Be forewarned."

Hee hee. Check, check, check.

The Grand Crusade

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

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

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

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

When Dragons Rage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day Three

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CSFF Blog Tour: The Return Day One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

In the meantime, go visit my fellow blog tourians:

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

Fortress Draconis

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

I just love Michael Stackpole books.

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

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

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

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

Finish Line

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Dark Glory War

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Case for the Real Jesus

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

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

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

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

"New explanations have refuted Jesus' resurrection."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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