CSFF Blog Tour: Marcher Lord Press Day 1

It's been an interesting couple of days. For those not in the know, the annual ACFW Conference took place just a few miles from my house. I've spent the past four days learning more about the craft, meeting with editors and agents, and mingling with fellow authors, including many speculative fiction types.

And the one man I saw quite a bit of was Jeff Gerke. As a matter of fact, I worry that he might have thought I was stalking him on Friday, since I was in both of his classes and I attended the Late Night Chat he led. Jeff is an incredible guy. He's published six novels. He worked in the industry for twelve years at Multnomah Publishers, Strang Communications, and finally at NavPress. He now works as a freelance editor. He also maintains a website dedicated to speculative fiction, namely Where the Map Ends. And if he wasn't busy enough, he's launching a new publishing company, namely Marcher Lord Press.

This past Thursday, I sat down with Jeff and two other speculative fiction authors (hey, Stuart and Steve!) and we had a conversation about this latest venture:

LRB: When did you first think of Marcher Lord Press?

JG: Probably the first inklings of it came in the last couple of years I was at Christian publishing companies. After twelve years in the industry, it finally dawned on me what the real problem was with publishing Christian speculative fiction. I had thought all along that just the good fiction hadn’t come out yet, so the solution was to get good fiction out there. And then I thought, well, we’ve got some good fiction out there but it didn’t sell so now what? Maybe people just didn’t know about it, so the solution is to get good fiction with good marketing. And we would do that at whatever house I was at and it still wouldn’t go. Well, we need good covers, good stories, and good marketing. So we got all of that and they only did okay.

My theory all along had been that if I could get everything together, the books would go. People want this. But I realized, no they don’t. It isn’t that the book isn’t great or doesn’t have a good cover and people don’t know about it, it’s they do know about it and they just don’t want it. It finally occurred to me that the problem isn’t the package, the problem is I’m trying to sell something people don’t want. If you run a golf store and you start selling paint, the people who come in there don’t want that. They came in for something else. So why are you doing this? They don’t want what you’re selling.

So right around in there, I started asking what demographic does CBA publishers, with their fiction, reach? And I started thinking about who that is. It’s white American evangelical women from child rearing to empty nest age. Those are the people it reaches. So the books that are going to do well are the books that will appeal well to that demographic. Those aren’t the people who like speculative, by and large, as a group. They don’t like alien mutants who will eat your brain. They don’t. I do! Well, not in reality, but a story about it. The industry is not reaching the market that would be interested in this kind of book. So what do we do?

So I started thinking, what would you do and how would you reach those people? Where are those people? I wouldn’t go to Christian bookstores because they’re not going in there anymore. And they’re not in the Christian shelves at Barnes and Noble. Where are these people? They’re on-line. They’ve banded together in these blog tours and alliances and forums. They have found each other, but they’re not in family Christian anymore, at least, looking for this kind of fiction. That’s kind of when I started thinking about what I would do, what I would offer, who I’m going for, and where are they, and how I could reach them?

LRB: And that’s why you went with print-on-demand also?

JG: People hear print-on-demand and they think, "Oh, vanity press, subsidy publisher, self-publishing!" I guess that’s because the first companies to embrace print-on-demand were those kind of companies.

Print-on-demand is just technology. I had been in the publishing industry for twelve years and I kind of knew the different parts of publishing. And I knew the headaches. Some of the big ones are the big discounts you have to give to retail chains and distributors to get them to take your book. And then, after they’ve ordered fewer copies than you wish at lower discounts than you want, then they send them all back and demand their money back. And sometimes, they send them back to you in an unusable condition. You’ve got warehousing, you’ve got shipping, you’ve got warehouse staff, you’ve got the whole distribution thing, you’ve got to get sales staff to go out and meet with all the chains to see if they’ll take your book at all, you’ve got returns, you’ve got refunds ... it’s just crazy. Why are we doing this? So I said, if I ever do a company, it won’t play that game at all.

So what about print-on-demand? Then I could print exactly how many copies as I have orders. No warehousing, no sales staff, no returns, no big discounts. The problem is, I don’t have stores all over the country featuring the book, but I saw how that worked and it usually didn’t work. If you’re not Tyndale or if your book isn’t by Jerry Jenkins or whatever, it’s not going to get big coverage, so why would I even go there at all? So that definitely influenced my decision to use print on demand.

LRB: What do you like best about speculative fiction and what do you like least?

JG: Best is easy. It’s cool. It makes my imagination soar. When I read a book that takes me to a place, even just in a moment, that I just thrill at, in that moment, the world is real, the adventure is real, and I’m there. My brain has opened up and I’ve seen a whole new reality. That’s the power that you guys bring as speculative authors.

It’s cool because it helps you look at the normal through a new lens. You can examine any kind of issue you want to, but people are distracted by the weirdness so they don’t realize you’re talking about redemption or forgiveness. Not that you want to write it as an agenda-driven story. It’s this experiment table where you can mess around with things because you’ve taken it out of reality to a certain degree.

I don’t think there’s anything I like least about it. It’s cool, 100%.

LRB: What can speculative fiction do that the rest of Christian fiction can’t?

JG: I addressed some of it already, but I think fantasy especially is the most native platform for examining ultimate issues of true goodness. What is heroism and what does it mean to be a responsible person and a Christian in the midst of danger? It allows you to put it in this special environment and play around with the idea.

LRB: Are there are any subjects that you would consider taboo? Like vampires or aliens or anything like that?

JG: I don’t think so. Sometimes the weirder the better. I’ve received vampire stories, superhero stories, alien stuff, completely bizarre alternate universe things. For me, if I like the story, great.

LRB: Have you received a lot of over-the-transom submissions?

JG: I have. As a matter of fact, almost all of the submissions I have are over-the-transom and I invite those.

There aren’t many publishers that accept unagented, unsolicited manuscripts; I’m one of them and I’m one of the few that accept this genre at all. That’s great. There’s so much excellent unpublished speculative fiction out there and nobody wants it. They all find their way to me. It works to my benefit because I can cherry-pick the best stuff. This is a neglected genre that a lot of creative people are writing excellent stuff in. I’m in the premiere position. It’s delightful.

So I have received a lot but I don’t request all of them. I have a link and form on the web-page that I have people fill out and a lot of people who would like to submit to me can’t because they haven’t finished their manuscript, or it’s way too short, or it’s to the wrong audience or it doesn’t have any Christian content. I probably say "Okay, I’ll look at it," to too many because I like the premise and I’m an encourager at heart.

LRB: What kind of stories are you looking for and what kind of authors are you looking for?

JG: I get two kinds of authors, and I love both kinds. One is the unpublished, frustrated author. "The big houses say they want fantasy but they won’t accept my weird story or my friend’s." They’re frustrated, unpublished, and passionate. One of my opening novels is by one of those guys. Mitchell Bonds with his Hero, Second Class. Unpublished young guy, 19 years old when I acquired him. You would not believe when you read this book that he’s 19. He’s 20 now.

The other kind I get is the sadder but wiser novelist. Usually published several books before in the CBA industry. "Been there, done that, didn’t do what I thought what it was going to do. Burned and disillusioned. I ended up writing things that weren’t my passion. I want to get this story to the people who will love it, even if it’s the 500 you can reach." So then I can get a Theodore Beale, one of my debut novelists (author of Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy), who’s written for Pocket Books. I’m friends with a lot of these published people and I want to get them to write for me. A lot of them are considering writing for me because they can write the exact kind of novel they wished they could have published before.

As for what kind of stories, anything weird. That’s the kind of stories I want. I want it to be 65,000 words or more, I want it to be written to an adult audience, not a young adult audience. I want it be speculative, I want it to arise from a Christian worldview and have some kind of Christian component in it. But aside from that, anything goes. I just want to be amazed.

LRB: What advice can you give to speculative fiction authors?

JG: I’ve said this in a couple of other venues and I’ll say it here. It is really a great time to be an author of fiction that is not being served by CBA. It doesn’t feel like it yet because we’re just at the beginning of the small press revolution. The move in technology is always toward allowing people to better produce what they want and get it to the people who want it. It bypasses the big power blocs, which serves most people but leaves some on the fringe. But now all these disenfranchised genres in Christian publishing, whether it’s speculative or literary or men’s fiction or military fiction or whatever is a legitimate genre in ABA but isn’t being served by CBA, can now get it to people through the independent presses. I predict more presses like Marcher Lord will rise up. The model I’m using is one anyone can use for relatively low cost.

So be encouraged, because people who have completed speculative manuscripts will be in demand. It may not be the standard "rich and famous" contract you were hoping for, it may be with a publishing company you’ve never heard of, but if you want to get your book produced and get it to the people who want it, your time is now.

Don’t just rest on the fact that your book is different and weird and an outsider and let that be your distinctive. You have to write great fiction. You have to hone your craft. I have my fiction writing tips column on where the map ends. I’m up to 95 tips. That should keep you busy for a while. Apply it to your manuscript. You have to have great content too.

LRB: This one’s just for fun. Who is your favorite speculative fiction character and why?

JG: I’m going to name a few. Bernard Cornwell is a secular novelist who wrote an Arthurian trilogy. His Merlin character is unforgettable. The first name that popped in my head was Shrek. Shrek is a beautiful speculative character. Another bizarre one is Horton from Horton Hears a Who. That’s a science fiction spectacular story. It is weird and fabulous. He believes this thing that no one else can perceive and that is cool. I could say Farimir in Lord of the Rings. I would have to say Luke Skywalker even though he’s something of an Everyman. That’s a good enough list.

The interview with Jeff was great fun. Like I said, he's an incredible guy with a real passion for what he's doing and it's easy to see he has a heart for ministry. Marcher Lord launches in eight days and I couldn't be more excited. It's going to be great.

Be sure to see what else is pinging around the blog tour:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Courtney
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Kameron M. Franklin
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Greg Slade
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

ACFW Advance Scout Week 4: The Minnesota Suvival Guide

And so here we are. In a week's time, the ACFW Conference will be over. We'll all be home. The Genesis contest winners will be celebrating. Some will be frantically getting proposals ready for agents and editors. I suspect that more than a few of us will simply go catatonic, overwhelmed from the excitement. I know I'll be incommunicado for a day or two.

That being said, first we have to make it through the Conference. Soon you will all be descending upon Minnesota, my beloved home state, which is quickly approaching California for the number of former entertainers who have entered politics. But I digress.

Let's talk about the weather. In my original scouting report, I said that temperatures would probably be around 70. I based this on the average for this time of year. But then, about a week or so ago, the mercury dipped. Not horribly, but enough to put a little bit of a chill in the air. On top of that, it's been raining on and off. I worried that I may have given out some bad information. My reputation as an advance scout would be in tatters!

But I've been keeping an anxious eye on the forecast and as of now, it appears we'll have great weather throughout the conference. Highs in the mid 70s. Partially cloudy skies. Should be pretty good.

So let's move on. I thought I'd clue all of you into some general information about Minnesota.

Let's begin with nomenclature. Minneapolis and St. Paul form what we Minnesotans call the Twin Cities. I guess they're fraternal twins. We Minnesotans tend to shorten that, though, and we'll often refer to them as "the Cities." That's not arrogance on our parts; we know there are other cities out there, many of them bigger than Minneapolis and St. Paul combined. My personal theory is we call them that because they're really the only true cities in Minnesota (no offense to St. Cloud or Duluth).

A while ago, someone either on the Loop or the forums asked if Minnesotans said "Eh?" I hate to be the bearer of bad news. That's Canada, not Minnesota. But we Minnesotans do have our own way of speaking. But if you're expecting to hear thick accents like in the movie "Fargo," you'll be disappointed. I've lived in Minnesota for most of my life and I've heard someone talk like that only once.

But most Minnesotans do have a little bit of an accent. We're infamous for elongating our "Os." As a matter of fact, that might be why children in Minnesota play "Duck, duck, gray duck." If they tried to play "duck, duck, goose," pronouncing "goooooooose" would take too long and the game would be over.

Minnesotans, by and large, are a friendly and helpful bunch. We refer to that as "Minnesota Nice." But that does have a downside, and that's the use of the phrase, "That's different."

See, Minnesotans don't like offending people. To spare people's feelings, we'll often use "different" as a dodge. Someone will ask our opinion on something. We won't like whatever it is but won't want to hurt the asker's feelings. So we'll tell them, "That's different." So while you're here, if you're telling a Minnesotan about your book and they say, "Well, that's different," they're not commenting on the uniqueness of your story.

The population of Minnesota is mostly made up of the descendants of Norweigian, Swedish, and German immigrants. Because of this, we tend to tell Norweigian jokes. If someone starts telling you a story about two guys named "Ole and Sven" or a husband and wife named "Ole and Lena," you can pretty much guarantee that it's going to end with a punchline.

I could keep going, but I don't want this post to drag out for too much longer. I could discuss how casseroles are known as "hotdishes" here (and are a staple of most church dinners). I could make more jokes about Minnesota politics. But instead, I'll leave you with this:

Only one of these is referred to as a Coke in Minnesota. And all three are called "pop," not "soda." Oh, and for our friends from Wisconsin, drinking fountains are called just that, not "bubblers."

Anyway, it's been fun being your advance scout! See you all in three days!

Yet another review two-fer

Okay, so I've been a bit lazy. I've got two books that I finished reading that I need to review. And even though one is a Christian sci-fi book while the other is a secular sci-fi book, I noticed a connection between the two authors that I'll share in a bit.

The first book is Shivering World by Kathy Tyers. From what I understand, there have been two versions of this book. It was originally published as secular sci-fi and then Tyers brought it to Bethany House and they republished it as a Christian book.

A few years ago, I found the original version in the library and read it through. When I learned that a new version was out, I wanted to reread it and see how things had changed. Imagine my delight when I found the Christian version in a local library.

Well, I've since read it and I can honestly say, I can't tell the difference.

Now that might be because it's been a while and I've read dozens of books in the interim. But I don't think it's necessarily all that bad. While the Christian content is there, Tyers doesn't beat us over the head with it and that's never a bad thing.

For those unfamiliar with the book, it's the story of Graysha Brady-Phillips, a high school teacher turned scientist who goes to the planet Goddard to help terraform it. But there's a lot of intrigue in the air. For example, Goddard is cooling and nobody seems willing to either admit it or figure out why. And then there are the Goddard colonists, a mysterious bunch called the Lwuites. Rumor has it they practice illegal genetic engineering. That's part of the reason why Graysha is there. She has a debilitating genetic condition and she's hoping that she can maybe find the healing she needs. But on a planet like Goddard, where intrigue lurks around every corner, there's no guarantee that she'll even live long enough to do so.

I was impressed with the level of science that Tyers loaded into the story. I sometimes got a little lost in the details but not tremendously so. The story also felt a little uneven in places as well, but that might just be me. But still, if you're looking for a good example of what Christian sci-fi can be, you can't go wrong with Tyers.

The other book that I just finished reading last night is Angelmass by Timothy Zahn.

What are the quantum particles known as angels? That's what Pax spy Jereko Kosta is sent to find out. He infiltrates a break-away government called the Empyreal. All his superiors know is that the Empyreal requires their government and military officials to wear angels, believing that these particles make the wearer more ethical and noble. But the Pax disagrees. They fear that these particles, found outside the Angelmass quantum blackhole, are the precursors to an alien invasion.

Kosta has to find a number of unlikely allies to complete his task. But when he learns the truth, he realizes that it might be too late to save himself or the Empyreal.

Zahn created a fascinating universe for his story. Both sides of this conflict have interesting technology and it's all presented in a believable way. And Zahn also kept his plot somewhat unpredictable. I was never quite sure what he was going to pull out next.

My one gripe about this story was the somewhat pat ending. While he resolved most of the issues (or did to a certain degree), it almost felt like he left a few too many loose threads dangling. The story ended perfectly well; it just felt like there could have been a little more put into it. But it was still a fun ride and definitely worth the read.

So what to Tyers and Zahn have in common? If you think it's that they both wrote Star Wars novels, then you're partially right. They both have (and it's the Star Wars novels that introduced me to their writing in the first place). But that's not what I had in mind. No, in both cases, the authors used knowledge from their everyday lives.

According to the bio blurb on Shivering World, Tyers has a degree in microbiology. So does her main character and it's microbiology that factors into the book's conclusion. Zahn, according to the jacket blurb, has a great deal of knowledge about physics, and he certainly brought that to bear on the story.

So I guess the old adage is true. "Write what you know." It worked for Zahn and Tyers.

Now I just need to figure out how my encyclopedic knowledge of lines from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" to enhance my fiction...

ACFW Advance Scout Week 3: The Mall of America

Holy cow! Is it really only a week and a half until the ACFW conference? It is? Oh boy. One sheets to prepare, pitches to practice, wardrobes to plan... There's so much to do! But never fear, your scout has been at work already, checking out the location for Saturday's book signing, namely the illustrious Mall of America.

Ah, the Mall. That Mecca of merchandise. For those of you who have never been to this shopping haven, it's quite the sight. My favorite description of it comes from one of my favorite books, A Year at the Movies by Kevin Murphy:

"The Mall is, I believe, seventeen million square miles in total area, and contains, if I got my information right, sixteen thousand retail stores, eleven thousand six hundred restaurants, eighty-five thousand kiosks selling wrestling T-shirts, cellular phones, and ear piercing, one of the five oceans, an indoor airport, the state of North Dakota, George Wendt, and a herd of buffalo. I got this information from my seven-year-old niece, so I can't account for its veracity."

Murphy may be exaggerating a bit. In reality, the Mall consists of four levels, three of which contain the aforementioned stores and restaurants. The fourth floor has a movie theater and two restaurants, Cantina #1 and Hooters.

But back to the book signing. According to the ACFW website, it'll be held in the Best Buy Rotunda, down a hall, and into the smaller rotunda outside Sears. Here's the location in question on the Mall's map:

That doesn't show you much, so here's a shot of the Best Buy Rotunda from floor level. The book signing will go down the hall in the middle of the picture.

To the right of the photo, almost tucked behind the glass elevators, is the Barnes & Noble where you'll be able to pick up your books to be signed. It'll be an interesting event, I think. It's even been listed in the Mall's official calendar.

But enough about that. I mean, if you want more information about the book signing, you can find it at the official website. Many of you will arrive early and may want to scout things out for yourself. If that's the case, let me suggest three things you can do while there.

The first is the obvious: shop. There are many, many stores to choose from. In my wanderings through the corridors, I've spotted at least half a dozen stores that sell Minnesota souveniers. There's a small shop that has full size flight simulators called A.C.E.S. If you need more information, just check out the on-line Mall directory. You can spend a long time walking through the corridors. And remember the little tidbit I dropped two weeks ago: Minnesota has no sales tax on clothes. If you're planning on sending back a lot of books via the mail, why not pad the load with an outfit or two?

The second possibility is Nickelodeon Universe, the Mall's indoor amusment park.

Yes, the Mall has a bunch of rides in its center. And on this, I have to plead a bit of ignorance. I have never been on a single ride there. The food court my family and I frequent when we're at the Mall overlooks the rides. The closest I've ever come was when my wife and I had a caricature drawn for our wedding.

I did notice the discussion on the Forum about going on the log ride. A few people thought it'd be great to get completely drenched at the book signing. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I scouted the log ride. I found the end and watched as people got off. I only spotted small drops of water on their clothing, which would probably dry within minutes of leaving the ride. Don't let that stop you from taking the plunge, but don't expect to be dripping.

Finally, there's Underwater Adventures.

While a bit pricey, this is a fun experience. It's a massive indoor aquarium, complete with a whole slew of sharks. They've run a glass tunnel through it, allowing you to walk through the different habitats.

We recently took our son Isaiah through for his second birthday. He loved it. So did we.

Again, the tickets are a pit pricey, but if you have the time and are looking for something to do in the Mall, this is a fun time.

So there you go. The Mall of America. Obviously, I didn't go over everything that you can possibly do there. There's a lot more to find and enjoy. And hey, if you're single and you find your soul mate at the Conference, there's always this little gem:

See you in a week and half. Now where did my one sheet go...

ACFW Advance Scout Week 2: The hotel and meals

Greetings from the Land of 10,000 Visiting Republicans ... er, Lakes. It's time for another advance scouting report for those of us going to the National ACFW Conference. This week, we're going to talk about two basic human functions: sleeping and eating. In other words, let's talk about the hotel and the food.

Now I've never stayed in the Sheraton, so I can't tell you much about the amenities. They gave us a lot of information on the ACFW website. And you can always go and get even more information from the hotel's website as well. But I still felt the need to give the location a look-see for myself.

A week ago, I made the drive from my home in South St. Paul to the Sheraton.

I wound up parking in the east parking lot and walked around the building to find the main entrance. On my way, I spotted a little porch area overlooking a Burger King (the view is not the best; the Sheraton is ensconsed in something of an office park):

I made my way into the lobby and was impressed with what I saw:

Almost immediately, a helpful concierge ambushed me. I explained I'm an ACFW member, that I was scouting the area. He was extremely friendly and answered my questions and then allowed me to sneak around and take some pictures.

So allow me to share what I saw in my fifteen minutes of skulking around the Sheraton with my trusty Kodak EasyShare camera. My first stop was the hotel pool, simply because it was the closest to the lobby:

It was in this area that I discovered something really, really cool. Whoever is lucky enough to get a pool-side room will have their own private conversation nooks:

The above picture is one of the nicer ones. Most of the nooks had simply plastic furniture, but I suspect that this will be a boon to those of you who have roommates. It'll be a place that people can go to do a little reading or chat with critique partners or whatever.

After scoping out the pool, I headed to the second floor where the ballroom and various conference rooms are located. I didn't take a picture of the main ballroom, mostly because it was a mess. There were two guys setting up tables and chairs for some sort of function and from the look one of them gave me, I suspect they wouldn't want their pictures taken. It was a good sized ballroom and pretty typical for a hotel.

I did get pictures of the exterior hallway and one of the conference rooms I suspect will be used for the sessions:

Here's a random lobby that I stumbled over:

My overall impression after fifteen minutes of random wanderings is that the Conference couldn't have picked a better hotel. We should be very comfortable in the Sheraton.

That brings us to the next topic: food. While we'll undoubtedly be well-fed while the Conference is running, many ACFW-ers will likely arrive early or leave later, making it necessary for them to fend for themselves. And while I know that many critique groups, agents, and other groups are having meals together Friday night, there might be a few "Friday Night Orphans" such as myself who will be looking for a place to eat.

Never fear, your advance scout has looked into this! For starters, the hotel has three restaurants, namely the Navigator's Lounge, Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret, and the Nine Mile Grill. I can't say that I've eaten at any of them, so you'll just have to go by what the hotel's website says.

But perhaps you'll wish to escape the confines of the hotel for your meals. If that's the case, then you have a few options.

I started my research on MapQuest and this is what I found:

In this case, #1 is a Chili's, #2 is the hotel itself, #3 is a TGI Friday's, #4 is an Ember's, #5 & #6 are the same Dairy Queen, #7 is a Burger King, #8 is an "Eddington's" (I don't know what that is), #9 is a Subway, and #10 is "Cheetah Pizza." It looked like any of those options might be a little bit of a walk, or at least, it did to me.

But having been to the Sheraton, I can report that all of those options are within extremely easy walking distance. The TGI Friday's shares a parking lot with the hotel. The fast food joints are across the hotel's parking lot but there's an iron fence between them, so you'll have to do a little walking to get to them. The only one I didn't see was the Chili's. That's on the other side of Highway 100 and, I'd guess, you'd have to walk across the 77th St. bridge to get to it. That's do-able, but there you go.

There doesn't appear to be any other restaurants in the area. The next closes would be a drive down 77th St. to France Avenue. In that case, you'd need a car (or a friend with one).

But there's another option! The hotel does provide a free shuttle to the Mall of America. Remember the helpful concierge I mentioned before? One of the things he gave me was the shuttle schedule!

The Mall has a wide variety of dining options. There are two food courts with the usual fast food fare (McDonald's, Sbarros, A&W, Arby's, and so on). There are also sit down restaurants like Famous Dave's (one of my perosnal favorites), the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and Ruby Tuesdays. Here's a list, stolen from the Mall's website:

The trick with eating at the Mall will be timing the shuttles, especially during the week. Unless you want to go to the Mall and stay a few hours, it might be best to stick with the restaurants around the hotel.

So that's it for this week. Once again, thanks for stopping by to read my report. If you have any questions for your advance scout, don't hesitate to leave them with me and I'll do my best to run down the answers. And I'll see you all in about three weeks!

In At the Death

And so Harry Turtledove's great American counterfactual history epic ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper. I finished reading In At the Death and this book really drove home why Turtledove is both the best at counterfactual history stories and why he needs to scale it back a little.

For those of you unfamiliar with Turtledove's work, he specializes in counterfactual tales. That means that he rewrites history and then runs out the new timeline to its obvious (or not so obvious) conclusion.

In this case, Turtledove started about a dozen books ago with an intriguing (if overdone) premise: what if the Confederate States of America won the Civil War? How would the North American continent develop if it contained two countries, both of which calling themselves Americans? Turtledove then asked an even more interesting question: what if, in World War I, the North sided with the Germans and the South sided with England and France?

That series led into another, where the South finds themselves on the losing side and beaten pretty badly. As a result, a die-hard racist named Jake Featherstone ascends to power at the head of a political body known as the Freedom Party. Jake blames both the U.S. and the African American population for the C.S.A.'s defeat and he aims to make them both pay. The parallels to Hitler and the Nazis are very obvious.

In At the Death is the conclusion of Turtledove's alternate history of World War II. The Confederates are on the run after failing to cut the U.S. in half. The U.S. has discovered the C.S.A's concentration camps. Both sides are struggling to perfect a new type of weapon called "the uranium bomb." Whoever gets there first might just have a leg up and could win the war. But who will it be?

Sounds like a lot of fun, right? Sadly, Turtledove collapses in the telling.

For starters, we have the sheer bulk of characters. While Turtledove didn't exactly develop a cast of hundreds for his story, he came pretty close. There are so many people to keep track of that oftentimes, I didn't have a clue who I was reading about. Not at first, anyway. And since there are so many of them, you had to get used to Turtledove's pattern. He'd spend three or four pages on a character, describing what they're going through, before jumping to someone else. You'd have to wait three or four very long chapters before he'd come back to that character.

What also makes this frustrating is that the characters sound very much alike. Sure, there are some differences. Jefferson Pinkard has a distinct way of talking, one that sets him apart from a guy named Clarence Potter. The African American characters have their own dialect. But the characters aren't that distinct from each other. Sure, they have different backgrounds, but so what? There are simply too many of them.

Not only that, but Turtledove's writing got repetitious on more than on occasion. For example, two characters are put on trial for war crimes toward the end of the book. Turtledove starts out both accounts with the accused calling it a "kangaroo court." Same phrase for both characters. That may seem minor, but that's only one example out of many.

And finally, as things wound down, Turtledove had to abandon some plotlines. In the previous books, the U.S.A. has had to deal with Mormon terrorists in Utah and a rebellious Canada. Yet there's little to no mention of these major plots in this, the final book. It's almost as if we're expected to believe that these two troublemaking areas finally settled down.

Does this mean that I wouldn't come back if Turtledove wrote another book? No, I'm not saying that at all. He's still excellent at what he does, and he left enough questions unanswered that I'd be interesting to see what his version of post-World War II America would look like. I'll just have to take better notes, I guess.

CSFF Blog Tour: Broken Angel Day 3

I suppose it’s ironic that I think what Brouwer has to say about government in Broken Angel will drum up more controversy than the choice of his heroine, namely Caitlyn. Once again, there will be some spoilers here, so consider yourself fairly warned.

Like I said two days ago, Caitlyn is an unusual girl. Thanks to genetic manipulation, performed "Outside," she’s not truly human. She’s a hybrid, human and bird at the same time. At one point, Brouwer comments that this was only possible because no one was "Outside" to object to the morals of experimenting on a human’s DNA.

This is pretty much in line with what Christians teach about genetic manipulation. It’s never considered a good thing to mess with God’s creation in such a way. But that just brings up the question: how much manipulation is bad? Is any amount acceptable?

Obviously giving a girl wings is a bit over the top, so let’s dial back the potential outrage factor a bit. Suppose some day, scientists discover a way to genetically manipulate a fetus to eliminate a horrific condition like Tay Sachs. Would that be acceptable? How about altering a child’s DNA to make sure it has the "correct" eye or hair color? Or to make him smarter or more athletic?

If we oppose genetic manipulation since it changes God’s creation, then does that apply to cosmetic surgery? If we can’t change a child’s appearance before she’s born, why can she change her appearance through breast implants, collagen injections, or botox? Or on a simpler level, what about hair dye or simple make-up? And it’s an issue for men too, with dyes that take away gray hair.

Now maybe I’m being a little ridiculous with that final example, but I went to those lengths to show a great strength of speculative fiction in general. I’ve said this before, but speculative fiction, such as Broken Angel, allows us to dive into uncharted territory and wrestle with issues before they present themselves in reality. Caitlyn, with her wings, makes us ask ourselves, "How far is too far?" Rather than present a knee-jerk reaction, it’s best for us to sit down and genuinely think through the issue. If it’s bad, why is it bad? Where do the lines fall? Through speculative fiction, we can do our best to figure it out.

Go and see what the other tour participants have had to say:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Mark Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Magma
Margaret
Shannon McNear
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Sean Slagle
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams

CSFF Blog Tour: Broken Angel Day 2

About halfway through Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer, I set the book aside and commented to myself, "Someone’s obviously been reading his Gregory Boyd."

For those who haven’t read this month’s book, you may want to stop reading. I don’t know how much of what I’m about to explain will ruin the plot, but just to be on the safe side. As I said yesterday, the book is set in the near future in a totalitarian theocracy called Appalachia. The citizens are kept illiterate and are monitored at all time through devices they’re forced to carry called vidpods. No one is allowed to own a book, not even an audio version of the Bible. Punishment for violating Appalachia’s laws is severe, namely stoning. It’s a harsh life, the depiction of which is bound to make many Christian readers uncomfortable.

What amplifies that discomfort is the fact that those who wish to escape Appalachia want to get to what’s called "Outside." In Outside, there doesn’t seem to be a church of any kind. There are no morals restraining their actions. And yet, it’s this God-less society that so many people consider a better alternative to Appalachia’s religious atmosphere.

It’s a very dark picture that Brouwer paints. Would a modern theocracy be so bleak?
I happen to think it would, mostly because it’s a confusion of God’s two kingdoms, a mixing that isn’t beneficial to either.

This is an idea that Martin Luther played around with during the Reformation. Luther taught that God has two kingdoms, the kingdom of the right hand and the kingdom of the left hand. The kingdom of the right is the Christian Church and is founded on grace. This is the kingdom that Jesus speaks of to Pilate in John 18:36 when He says that His kingdom is not of this world. It is a kingdom of grace, forgiveness, and faith.

The kingdom of the left hand are the governments of the world. It is the way that God governs the rest of humanity, by working through the authorities of this world. Paul talks about this in Romans 13:1-7, where he tells the Romans, "there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God." It is a kingdom of law, meant to curb the evil that human beings often engage in.

It was Luther’s contention that the two kingdoms should not mix because they will either dilute or taint each other. A government ruled by true Christian forgiveness would be too lax in administering the law, which would only lead to chaos. A Church involved in the administering of laws could easily tip toward legalism and forget about grace. In short, the Church should never wield the sword of government. Luther even went so far as saying that it would be better to be "ruled by a good Turk than a bad Christian prince." (And remember, the Holy Roman Empire was facing an invasion by the Turks when he said that!)

Gregory Boyd, in his book The Myth of a Christian Nation, expands on this theme. It’s a book that I think all modern Christians should read. He points out that Christ didn’t ask for us to spread his kingdom through political means. Instead, it’s better for Christians to work as servants where they are. He details a number of reasons why this mixing of the two kingdoms is such a bad idea. The most persuasive to me is that the sins of "Christian" government can easily be laid at the feet of the Church. For example, by calling America a Christian nation, Christianity’s critics can blame such debacles as slavery, racism, or eugenics on Christian teaching, even though such things aren’t compatible with the faith.

Brouwer’s setting for Broken Angel is, I think, a natural outgrowth of what Luther and Boyd wrote about. In this dystopian theocracy, the politically active Christians finally get sick and tired of being marginalized and ignored. So they take their ball and go home, so to speak. They set up shop behind a high wall, set up an economy based on cheap labor and selling carbon emission credits (a very cool touch, I thought), and enforce their version of Christianity, harsh and legalistic.

It’s a cautionary tale, one I think more American Christians should consider. Christ never called on His followers to force anyone into His kingdom or coerce their behavior through political means. Christ’s true kingdom is one of service, not swords.

Agree? Disagree? Either way’s fine. But Brouwer’s book is good food for thought, as is Luther’s teaching and Boyd’s book. If nothing else, it’s something that all Christians should at least consider ... especially during an election year.

Go see what the others think of Brouwer’s book:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Mark Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Magma
Margaret
Shannon McNear
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Sean Slagle
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams

ACFW Advance Scout Week 1: The trip to the Conference and what to do

Hello, fellow ACFW-ers! Some of you know me, some of you don’t. I’m John Otte, a speculative fiction author and I’ll be attending the ACFW conference in a little over a month. As you all know, it’s being held in Minneapolis this year.

Many ACFW-ers are doing conference prep in their blogs, discussing pitching, one sheets, conference etiquette, and so on. Well, the conference is being held just 20 miles from my home. I thought it might be fun to be an advance scout for all of you. This is the first of four "scouting reports," a sort of unofficial orientation to Minneapolis and its environs. I hope to post one each week on Monday night until the week of the conference.

Let’s start with something that I’m sure is on many of your minds.

The Weather -

Many of you have probably heard stories about Minnesota’s weather, especially our winters. This is because when you come right down to it, Minnesota only has two seasons, namely "road construction" and "winter." But luckily for all of you, you’re coming in September. That’s a very pleasant time of year, with temperatures hovering right above freezing. It’s also the time of the annual polar bear migration. If you have time, be sure to check that out. It’s a really impressive sight.

A picture from last year's migration

I’m kidding, of course. The temperatures average around 70 degrees for a high with a low of 50 degrees or so. It did get down to 33 degrees 17 years ago, but that probably won’t happen this year. Of course, we’re also going to be spending a lot of time in the hotel, so you won’t have to worry too much about the outside weather.

Many of you will arrive at the Minneapolis International Airport. I thought you might like a brief tour of what you might see on your way from the airport to the hotel.

My guess is that the hotel shuttle or taxi you’ll take will go along 494. If so, pay attention on the left. You’ll drive right by the Mall of America. I won’t go into too much detail about that now; come back next week and the week after for more details.

The trip will probably take you at least ten minutes depending on when you arrive. If you have the misfortune of making this trip during rush hour, it might be longer. The reason why is our next landmark, namely the corporate headquarters for Best Buy.

This impressive building sits close to where 494 hooks up with I-35W. You might even be able to spot it as you’re coming in for a landing. Consider it a sort of architectural rorschach test. What you see in these buildings might tell you a lot about yourself. For example, those with a more historical or nautical bent might see three ships. If you’re a sci-fi fan like me, you’ll see Jawa sandcrawlers.

Whatever this campus looks like, it’s the cause of delays during rush hour. When the Best Buy corporate employees are loosed, they snarl up the traffic. That, plus the intersection of two major freeways, always means traffic congestion. So if you have the misfortune of trying to drive by during rush hour, expect to crawl for a while.

But the Best Buy buildings also mark where you’ll see our hotel for the first time. As you come up a small hill, if you look out the front of the car, you’ll see the Sheraton in the distance. There it is! Your journey to the conference is almost at an end!

That is the hotel. Really!

But based on some of the threads in the forums, it would appear that some of you are car pooling. That’s great! If you’re coming in on I-35 or coming from the west on I-90, might I suggest two landmarks to visit?

The first is about 35 miles west of where I-35 and I-90 intersect. In a small town called Blue Earth, there is a 55-foot tall statue of the Jolly Green Giant. Stop by and have your picture taken with it.

The second is 20 miles to the east of the same intersection. In the town of Austin, we have the Spam Museum. I’ve never been myself, but I hear it’s pretty entertaining.

Either of these might be a little out of your way, but hey, when’s the next time you’ll be in the Land of 10,000 Lakes?

Tonight I also want to make a few suggestions for those of you who might be traveling with spouses or children. If your spouse or offspring are not participating in the conference, they may be looking for some things to do in the area. What follows is an incomplete list of attractions in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area:

1) The Mall of America -

The hotel has a shuttle to the Mall (more on that in two weeks). There’s a lot of stuff to do at the Mall, but again, I’ll talk about that in two weeks. Just to get you salivating a little earlier, I offer seven little words: No sales tax on clothing in Minnesota.

2) The Minnesota Zoo or Como Zoo -

The Twin Cities offers two zoos. Como Zoo is free to the public and has a pretty good selection of animals. Como also has a conservatory (also free) and an amusement park for littler kids (not free).

The Minnesota Zoo is a bit pricey, but it includes a brand new exhibit about animals from Russia. They also have dolphin shows and a monorail that takes you through the exhibits.

3) The Minnesota Renaissance Festival -

This isn’t that far from the hotel. If you like people dressed in period costumes and medieval shows and crafts, this is for you. Sadly, one of the best acts at RenFest is incomplete now. "Snot" of "Puke and Snot" died recently.

4) Museums -

We have a number of cool museums in the Twin Cities:

The Walker Art Center - Just what it sounds like. It’s an art museum. And it’s been a while since I’ve been there, so I couldn’t tell you what they have. Sorry.

The Science Museum of Minnesota - This is really cool. They will have a CSI-themed exhibit, along with a number of dinosaur fossils, a museum of medical hoaxes, among other things (including an Egyptian mummy!).

The Minnesota Children’s Museum - While geared for younger kids, this is a fun venue with lots of activities that trick kids into learning.

The Minnesota History Center - I’ve never been here but I hear it’s cool.

5) The Water Park of America -

If your family gets sick of the hotel’s pool, have them head on over to this water park within a stone’s throw of the Mall of America (hence the name). This facility has large water slides and a number of other fun water-related rides. While it’s connected to a hotel, it is open to the public (but definitely not for free).

6) Comedy Sportz -

This is a high energy, family friendly improv comedy troupe. If you’ve ever seen "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", you’ll like their show. Only they’re live and they don’t have the luxury of editing out the non-funny jokes.

So there are just a few ideas of what non-conference family members can do. It’s not a comprehensive list (obviously). If you want more ideas, head on over to the Explore Minnesota website. You’ll find all you need there.

That’s it for this week. Next week, we’ll talk about the hotel itself and the meal options for Friday night. In the meantime, if you have any questions about Minnesota or the Twin Cities, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

See you in a month!

A Most Portentious Day:

Happy birthday, Isaiah!

CSFF Blog Tour: Broken Angel Day 1

This month, the blog tour looks at Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer.

Set in the not-too-distant future, the story follows the frantic flight of Caitlyn, a young girl trying to escape from Appalachia, a splinter nation from the former United States of America. She’s being hunted by Mason Lee, an infamous and vicious bounty hunter, and Carson Pierce, an agent from Outside. Her only hope of escape is to find the Clan, a mysterious group who can get her beyond the walls of Appalachia. But why does everyone want Caitlyn? And what secret does she harbor?

The book itself is a fast-paced, exciting ride. It’s a short read, which helps ratchet up the tension. Part of the fun for me was reading about this theocratic dystopia and how it developed. That, in and of itself, makes this a worthy read if, for no other reason, to provoke some serious thought and discussion amongst politically minded Christians (but more on this tomorrow).

I do have a gripe with this book and it has to do with the main character, namely Caitlyn. Caitlyn is an unusual girl. She’s slender in build and bone. She’s hairier than most girls. She’s very strong. And she has an unusual lump on her back. Don’t worry about spoilers. All of that comes out in the first several pages.

There’s a mystery about Caitlyn. Or at least, there’s supposed to be. But if you’re paying attention to the title and one sentence in the earlier part of the book, you can figure out what the mystery is. That’s especially true if you’ve got even a passing familiarity with the X-Men. I figured out Caitlyn’s secret almost before I started reading. In the story, though, Brouwer doesn’t reveal the secret until what should be a climactic moment. But because I had it figured out, it came off more as an anticlimax. There was no tension. I knew how Caitlyn would get out of the situation already.

But like I said, that’s a minor issue. If you’re looking for a fun adventure, set in a thought-provoking setting, this is a book you can’t miss.

Be sure to check out what the other blog tour participants have to say about it. I know I’ll be paying attention:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Mark Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Magma
Margaret
Shannon McNear
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Sean Slagle
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams

Twilight

I just don't get the hype.

Maybe it's because I'm the wrong gender and twice as old as Stephanie Meyer's target audience, but I just don't understand why people are so excited about Twilight.

Part of the problem is the slow start with Bella wondering who Edward is. Duh, he's a vampire. Says so on the back of the book. Maybe the original edition didn't include the tripartite dilemma Bella faces, but the one I read did. As a result, I was getting more and more frustrated as I waited for Bella to figure it all out.

A major problem with the book is craft. I kept running over point-of-view problems as well as poorly crafted sentences. The story itself was interesting. Meyer certainly reworked the vampire lore in an interesting way. And she set up the dilemmas that Bella and Edward will face in the rest of the books well. But to me, the story didn't get interesting or exciting until I was 300 pages in.

Again, it might be a gender or age issue, but this wasn't for me. Clearly.

On the plus side, this did make me hungry (or thirsty?) for John Olson's upcoming book, Shade.

Wicked

Earlier today, I finally finished Wicked by Gregory Maguire. This one has been in my "to be read" stack for a while now. Other books would routinely usurp its place, slowly creeping up the pile and keeping this one on the bottom. In many ways, the book's situation reminds me of Elphaba, the heroine.

After finally finishing it off, I can honestly say, it could have stayed on the bottom of the stack permanently. I know that many people love this book. I know it spawned a musical. Doesn't matter. I had to force myself to keep reading more than once.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Maguire recasts the familiar story of "The Wizard of Oz" and tells it from Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view. She is now the heroine with Glinda, the Wizard, and even Dorothy as the "bad guys," so to speak. He traces Elphaba's childhood as the daughter of a unionist minister, her academic career with Glinda as her roommate, her days as part of the underground, and so on. Some of the subplots and characters were memorable. I particularly liked Boq, the diminutive Munchkinlander with a serious crush on Glinda.

But I just couldn't enjoy myself. Part of it was Maguire's voice. I couldn't stand it. I can't put my finger on it, but I had this feeling that Maguire thinks he's more clever than he actually is.

Another major problem I have is that Maguire really didn't mesh this story with the source material that well. At least, I didn't think he did. When you're creating a story like this, I think it's imperative to work around what's already been established. Maguire didn't, not as well as he could have. I'm all for taking a familiar story and setting it on its ear (the best example of this is how, in two short sentences, Timothy Zahn was able to recast the entire Star Wars saga with Palpatine as the hero in Outbound Flight). But Maguire seemed to just take the familiar characters, keep a rough outline of the original, and then did his own thing.

And finally, I had a hard time swallowing Maguire's obsession with all things sexual. Too much. That's my opinion, but there you go.

I've been tagged!

I was tagged a while ago and I've been a bit lazy .... er, distracted to actually follow through on this. Blog Tour Overlord Rebecca Luella Miller came up with a new blog-tagging game. Her rules are below:

I’m going to list five MUST Read novels and five Keep Your Eyes on These
novels, then tag five bloggers who I’m asking to post my lists on their site.
They may then add one book to each list but must also subtract one book. Finally
they should tag five other bloggers, link here at A Christian Worldview of
Fiction, and comment to this post so visitors here know to check out how they
may have changed the list.

If you aren’t tagged but want to play, copy the how-to paragraph above,
make your own list of MUST Reads and Keep Your Eyes on These, and tag away. It
will be fun to see if we can generate some book wars … uh, I mean, discussions …
good, healthy, respectful discussions! ;-)

So here are the lists as I received them. I've highlighted my changes in red.

My five MUST Reads:
Demon: a Memoir by Tosca Lee (NavPress)
Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer (WaterBrook)
To Dance in the Desert by Kathleen Popa (Cook Communications)
Children in the Night by Harold Myra (Zondervan)
The Restorer by Sharon Hinck (NavPress)

My five Keep Your Eyes On These:
Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead (Thomas Nelson)
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson (WaterBrook)
Auralia’s Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet (WaterBrook)
Winter Haven by Athol Dickson (Bethany House)
Hero, Second Class by Mitchell Bonds (Marcher Lord Press)

My rationale:
Children in the Night was one of the first CSFF books I ever read and masterfully utilizes the symbolism of light and darkness. Myra's world, one where light simply does not exist, is well crafted and believable. I would have listed the sequel, The Shining Face, but you really have to read the first book first.

While Hero, Second Class hasn't been published yet, I think that, based on the description on Marcher Lord's website, it's going to be a wild, fun ride. Just the kind of story I enjoy reading.

So there we go. There's the list with my changes. And as for who I'm going to tag:

Sharon Hinck
Mir
D.G.D. Davidson
Christopher Hopper
Tim @ Fantasythyme

If they've already been tagged, well, I guess that's just my dumb luck. But there you go.

How can you not love this?

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Thanks to my young son, I was given the chance to attend a special advance screening of Star Wars: The Clone Wars this morning. My understanding is that this movie will be spun-off into a cartoon sometime in the not-too-distant future.

As movies go, there are lots of battles, lots of explosions, and a few lightsaber fights. None of them were as good as the Maul vs. Kenobi & Jinn in Episode I or Anakin vs. Kenobi in Episode III, but I digress. In terms of quality, I'd say it's better than Episode I for sure but overall isn't all that spectacular. It's a good diversion, certainly fun to watch, but it was just okay.

Part of the problem is that I kept wondering about some of the characters they introduce. For example, there's the puzzle of Ashoka Tano, Anakin's new padawan apprentice.

Now it figures that at some point, Anakin would have been assigned a padawan. That makes sense. But my problem is how Ashoka fits into the overall story. Obviously she doesn't show up in Episode III. Does that mean she was killed at some point in the War? If so, great premise for a kid's show. While scrappy and a bit funny, Ashoka bugged me thanks to two nicknames she saddled on main characters. Just did not like those at all.

I also wondered about introducing Asajj Ventress into the larger Star Wars universe. Sure, she's been a staple of the Extended Universe for a while now (featuring in the first part of the animated Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network and in the Clone Wars series of comic books), but she's thrown into this movie without much of an introduction. She's just called "Dooku's assassin" and we're told that she wants revenge on Skywalker. Why? It's never explained. A little research might help there.

The plot between the Republic and the Separatists is pretty mundane, nothing noteworthy.

There are a few gripes that I have with the movie, starting with the music. By and large, the score put together by Kevin Kiner was okay. But in the opening, he decided to "update" the Star Wars theme a little. Nothing too drastic, but I was disappointed. It would have been better to stick with the classic in my opinion. And when Kiner tries to evoke a certain noir feeling for one scene, I knew things were going downhill fast.

Speaking of which, pay attention for that noir music. That's the signal that you're about to cross into some really ridiculous territory. But I won't say much more than that. Just think about the character you meet and ask yourself, "How and why is he different?" Really poor.

So how does it all add up? If you're a kid or have one, it should be a good time. If you're a Star Wars purist like me, maybe go to a matinee. Otherwise wait for the DVD.

CSFF Blog Tour: DragonLight Day 3

The Blog Tour for DragonLight wraps up today. I thought I'd end with a cautionary lesson I've learned from the DragonKeeper series. As speculative fiction authors, we have to be very careful with the symbols we use, especially when it comes to Christ.

When I first started reading the DragonKeeper stories, I thought I had the Paladin character figured out. In my mind, he was clearly the Christ figure for the story. He ruled Amara. He had miraculous powers. He had been alive for centuries. It certainly seemed like he filled that role in the story.

But as I read the next books, I became more and more confused. Paladin didn't seem all that Christ-like anymore. Not that he was doing evil stuff, but there were hints that he wasn't the Christ figure after all. After what I thought was such a strong connection in DragonQuest, it was a bit disconcerting.

During the blog tour for DragonFire, I mentioned my discomfort about this apparent Christological confusion, and I was told that Donita K. Paul never intended Paladin to be a Christ-figure for her stories. That made me feel a little better. But as I re-read the entire series in preparation for this tour, even knowing that Paladin wasn't a Christ analogue, I still got the same impression in the early books. While I spotted more hints that it wasn't the case, it still made me uncomfortable.

The same thing happened when I read Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet. I was sure the Keeper was some sort of Christ figure, only to be told that I had messed up again.

Perhaps the problem is mine. Maybe other readers didn't see the possible connection or be concerned by it. As a Lutheran, I tend to be a bit Christocentric in my theology and thinking. At any rate, the whole quandry made me realize a lesson. We have to be careful in how we approach anyone (or anything) that might be construed as a Christ figure.

Different authors approach this in different ways. For example, Kathy Tyers and Sharon Hinck solved the issue the same way: they set their stories (the Firebird trilogy and the Restorer trilogy respectively) in a time before Christ. Karen Hancock took an opposite approach in the Legends of the Guardian King books by setting her story a thousand years after the Christ event.

It behooves us as Christian authors to be clear about our characters and the concepts in our stories. Granted, there might be those who get tripped up (like me), but it shouldn't be because we weren't careful enough.

While I may have been sort of negative this tour, it shouldn't discourage anyone from reading these books. They are great books. Go and see what the others have to say:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
* Beth Goddard
Mark Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Magma
Terri Main
Magma
Margaret
* Shannon McNear
Melissa Meeks
* Rebecca LuElla Miller
John W. Otte
Deena Peterson
Steve Rice
* Cheryl Russel
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
* Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams

CSFF Blog Tour: DragonLight Day 2

On the Rehabilitation of Dragons...

When we talk about DragonLight and the rest of the DragonKeeper series, there's an interesting shift that Donita K. Paul achieves. She rehabilitates dragons from a Christian point of view.

She's not the only one to attempt this. As a matter of fact, I first learned about the DragonKeeper books about the same time that I heard about Bryan Davis's Dragons in Our Midst books. And, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit, I had a negative reaction to both. "Dragons as good guys? In a Christian series? I think not!" The reason for this rather close-minded mindset is because of the symbolic luggage that dragons carry around in Christianity. After all, in Revelation, Satan is depicted as a dragon. It's just a bit natural for people to be wary about books that cast the symbolic image of ultimate evil as the good guys.

But those who would completely reject these books for that reason would miss some awfully good stories. And besides, there are two points that we should remember.

First of all, Revelation is full of symbolic language. Satan is no more a literal dragon than Jesus is a seven eyed, seven horned, glow-in-the-dark lamb. God used that imagery because a dragon would likely evoke certain feelings and concepts in John's mind.

Second, and more importantly, by rehabilitating dragons like this, we Christians are "taking it back." In some ways, it's a redemptive venture, striking out into Satan's realm and claiming back what should have always been ours in the first place.

Think of it this way: Satan can't create anything. He can only twist and distort what God Himself has created. It's a shame to leave Satan with anything that he can call his own when we can snatch it back from him, sanctify it in the light of Christ, and make it our own. And yes, I know that I'm paralleling Paul's discussion of Wulder's high and low races here.

The trick is to make sure that we can relate what's being redeemed to God properly. Another good example is the way that Paul uses "magic" in her books. Let's face it, that's extremely tricky and if it's not done right, can lead to a huge mess. After all, the Bible is pretty clear that Christians aren't to engage in any sort of godless sorcery.

But Paul sidesteps this issue by making the wizards in her book operate under Wulder's authority and by tying magic into the rules of Wulder's creation. As such, they're not operating independently or in contradiction to Wulder, but they're doing so in relation to Him.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the blog tour participants have to say:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
* Beth Goddard
Mark Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Magma
Terri Main
Magma
Margaret
* Shannon McNear
Melissa Meeks
* Rebecca LuElla Miller
Deena Peterson
Steve Rice
* Cheryl Russel
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
* Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams

CSFF Blog Tour: DragonLight Day 1

Today we begin the blog tour "for real." This month's featured book is DragonLight by Donita K. Paul, the final book in the DragonKeeper series. I've really looked forward to reading this, the final entry.

In it, Kale Allerion and her husband, Bardon, along with the rest of the citizens of Amara, have been at peace after the defeat of Burner Stox and Crim Cropper. Kale's flock of dragons has increased exponentially and Bardon has been hard at work with his duties as a magistrate. But the time has come for them to go on another quest. Along with Regidor and Gilda, they set out to find the lost meech colony.

But all is not well in the lands ruled by Paladin. A strange new sect has arisen called the Followers. They claim to follow new mandates handed down by Paladin himself. And what of the strange attacks by small black dragons who seem focused on destroying Kale?

As the final chapter in this series unfolds, Kale and Bardon find themselves fighting for their lives and those they love against an ancient, slumbering evil that is close to waking up.

While Paul's writing was excellent as always, I finished the book feeling a little disappointed. The story judt didn't hang together that well for me.

For starters, there was the Followers. In my opinion, this subplot felt tacked on, almost like it was filler. I was fascinated and quite excited that Kale and Bardon would be taking on a nefarious heresy, exposing the evil that lurked beneath the surface while putting their lives at risk. Truth be told, I was more interested in the Followers than in the search for the missing meech colony.

This may be "Monday morning quarterbacking," but I think the Followers could have been the center of the book. Instead, they became something Kale and Bardon did while they were waiting around for the "main quest" to keep going. Most of the action (including the Followers rise to power and subsequent fall) happened "off stage," so to speak. They played such a minor role in the book, it almost felt like they were put in to fill out the book a little. Since Bardon and Kale played a very minor role in their downfall, it left me wondering why the Followers were in there at all.

Second, there's the way the book ended. In some ways, it felt like a deus ex machina to me. Or in this case, a deus ex doneel. This includes how Gilda became a true "good guy." It felt a bit unnatural.

And finally, there's the way this book relates to the other four. It felt a bit anticlimactic and it's all because of the villain they faced.

The villain didn't seem worthy of being the "big bad evil" in the final book of the series. There was a definite "hierarchy of evil" in the previous four books that went something like this:

1) Pretender

2) Risto

3) Burner Stox & Crim Cropper.

Risto gets wiped out in the second book. Burner and Crim are brought to justice in the fourth. So you would think that the final book would lead to some massive confrontation with the greatest evil Amara has ever faced, something to do with Pretender. Instead, Paul introduces a new evil, one who is definitely bad but didn't seem like a natural outgrowth of the stories thus far.

That is perhaps the part of that frustrated me the most. While Paul did drop a few hints in two of the previous books about how this final story would play out, it wasn't enough. There should have been other threads about this final big bad guy woven in through the previous books, just enough so that we could look back later and go, "Hey, yeah! I remember her talking about that!"

Instead, the villain seemingly pops up out of nowhere and didn't seem connected to what came before. To put it another way, imagine if in Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Sam defeated Sauron and destroyed the One Ring in The Two Towers and then the former Fellowship did battle with space aliens in the final book.

In spite of what might be perceived as a massive dose of negativity, I have really enjoyed the DragonKeeper books. Like I said yesterday, I've enjoyed sojourning in the creative and colorful world that Paul created. And I'm also looking forward to the next series that's apparently starting up in 2009. I just wish that the final book of this series sat better with me.

Make sure to check out what other people are saying on the tour, especially those with the asterisk next to them. Consider them "Blog Tour All-Stars." They've been with the tour since the beginning, which was focused around DragonKnight:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
* Beth Goddard
Mark Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Magma
Terri Main
Magma
Margaret
* Shannon McNear
Melissa Meeks
* Rebecca LuElla Miller
Deena Peterson
Steve Rice
* Cheryl Russel
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
* Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams