CSFF Blog Tour: "Favorites" Day Three

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

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

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

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

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

CSFF Blog Tour: "Favorites" Day Two

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go and see what the other tourists are sharing:

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

CSFF Blog Tour: "Favorites" Day One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Voice Talkers

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

The Birthright Project Revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We'll find aliens in 25 years?

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

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



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

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

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

BioShock Infinite?

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

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New profile picture

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

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



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

Now THERE'S a reality show

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

Confessions of a Tea Party Casulty

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

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

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

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

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

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

Batman: Arkham City

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

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

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

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

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

The Christian Atheist

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

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

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

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

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

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

Send Oboe Music!

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

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

Oboe needs music.

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

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

Starcraft 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leaper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nathan Fillion reads "Heat Wave"

Thank you, Nathan Fillion. I don't think I'll be able to read a passionate scene in a book without laughing ever again.

Once a Hero

Okay, settle in, this one might take a while.

Those of you who frequent my blog might remember that a few months ago, I reviewed a big sci-fi anthology. Most of the stories were hit and miss for me, more misses than hits, but one of my favorites was by someone named Elizabeth Moon.

So then, a few weeks ago, my wife went to a big used book sale. Before she left, she asked me if I had any books I wanted or any authors she should look for. I figured, hey, nothing ventured, so I told her to keep an eye out for anything by Elizabeth Moon. She returned with close to a dozen books by Moon. Great!

Small problem, though: some of them seemed to be parts of different series. Some of them had spaceships and horses on the cover. A few featured the young lady pictured above with the unfortunate haircut. I had no idea which ones were series and which ones weren't. And to be honest, the little list of books Moon had written inside the books weren't much help either. So finally, doing my level best to decipher things, I decided that Once a Hero must be the first book in a series and I settled in to read it.

The book itself centers around a young woman named Esmay Suiza. Esmay is a lieutenant j.g. in a big galactic fleet and she's just come out of a traumatic experience with her last posting. The repercussions of said traumatic experience take up the first third of the book, so much so that when I was reading it, I kept thinking, "I'd rather read that book instead." I couldn't figure it out; was this really the first book in a series or had I guessed wrong?

Anyway, after the dust settles, Esmay is sent off on a new posting to a big mobile repair ship. She does her best to settle in, even finds a new friend, but there are forces at work both on the ship and outside to make her life difficult.

After reading most of the book, I finally managed to track down the information I needed. This is actually the fourth book in a seven book series. And, truth be told, I'm not sure if I want to go back and read the first three or keep going from this point and read the rest.

I'm not sure what it is that's throwing me off. In some ways, it's because I feel like Esmay really doesn't do much of anything for most of the book. There's a lot of introspection. There's a lot of dealing with stuff that must have happened in the previous book (I'm guessing; since I haven't read it, I can't say for sure). But in the end, the plot, such as it is, felt anticlimactic in many ways.

At the same time, though, there were moments when my mind would gain some traction on the story and that would keep me going. All in all, I'd say it's an average book. Maybe if I had started at the beginning, I would be more inclined to keep going. As it is, I have no idea what I'm going to do with the other Elizabeth Moon books in my "to-be-read" pile. For now, they'll just gather some more dust as I move on to other authors. Who knows? Maybe I'll be back someday.

The Writer Who Couldn't Read

Saw this interesting video the other day and thought that I would share it. I now have a new medical condition to worry about. I don't know what I'd do if I came down with this.

Is It Time for Christian Fiction to Die?

Author Eric Wilson wrote a thought-provoking article at his website recently, one that I found rather thought provoking. Why not go over to his site and check it out? Don't worry, I'll wait.

In many ways, I agree with what Wilson has to say. Far too often, Christian writers seem unwilling or unable to engage with the sinfulness of the world in a realistic way. Those that try are chastised and forced out of the market. Now I'm not suggesting that we need to start letting the f-bombs fly or have graphic sexual descriptions in books. But at the least, can't we acknowledge that the world is a screwed up place and that we Christians help make the mess at times?

CSFF Blog Tour: Starlighter Day Three

So to close out this month's in absentia blog tour, I thought I would relate the following story. I'm not sure what it has to do with anything, but it made me chuckle when it happened.

Late last month, I began reading Starlighter. I did so while my almost four year old son was taking a bath (I do that; he gets to play in the tub, I get to read a book). But that particular evening, he wasn't interested in playing. He seemed more interested in what I was reading. Just as a reminder, this is what he saw in my hands:



After studying it for a few moments, he asked, "What's that tree-branch thing that looks like it has eyes?"

"You mean this?" I asked, pointing to the dragon at the top of the book.

"Yes."

"That's a dragon. See? These are its eyes."

"But why does it have branches on its head?"

"Those aren't branches. Those are horns."

"Why does it have horns?"

"I don't know. Why do you think it has horns?"

Dead silence. Then, "What is that thing with the black eyes?"

I pointed to the girl. "You mean this? That's a girl peeking over a black egg."

He thought about this for a while and then asked, "Why is the dragon coming, Daddy?"

Well, I was only on page 12 at that point and hadn't actually seen any dragons yet, so I had no idea. So I decided to employ the Socratic method and ask him why the dragon was coming. He had no idea, so he suggested I look at the book's pictures and find out why.

I showed him the pages of the book, flipping through them to reveal that there were no pictures in this book. "It's a big-boy book. Maybe someday you can read a book like this."

He seemed very concerned that there were no pictures in it and asked me why there was a dragon on the book. I tried to explain that the pictures were put on this book to make people interested in reading the book. He then asked me what the book was about.

Again, page twelve, so I decided to once again reverse the question on him and asked him what the book was about.

"Communion."

"Why communion?" I asked.

"Because we went to church today." (And indeed, we did celebrate communion that morning)

I further questioned him about the book's plot based on his impressions from the cover art. And this is what he said:

"The dragon ripped a tree branch off a tree and put it in his pocket. Then he took the tree branch out of his pocket and put it back on the tree. And the girl looked in the branch and found a Mater whose wheels spin--because my Mater's wheels don't spin--to give to Abbie (a friend of his) at church."

And so it went. But I share this story for one other reason. At one point in our discussion, my son wanted to know if Bryan Davis could write a book about dragons with pictures and words that he can read. So there you go, Bryan. Your next book series?

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

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Valerie Comer
R. L. Copple
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour: Starlighter Day Two

Greetings from the future! Er . . . the past. Well, shoot, I'm not sure where I am, temporally speaking, in relation to you, the reader of this blog post. Like yesterday's post, this one also was written a week in advance since I'll be in New Orleans when this post goes live. Confused? Yeah, I am too. Technology has a way of doing that to me.

I bring that up because I think that might be part of the reason why I was put off by Starlighter by Bryan Davis. I just couldn't quite wrap my head around its technology.

When the book started, we see Jason Masters, one of our intrepid heroes, in a sort of gladiatorial game. Swords and shields, that sort of thing. At first, his world feels slightly medieval. That level of technology and societal sophistication. The same can sort of be said for Koren's world as well. There's still a sort of medieval feeling to the story.

But then there are these odd spritzings of sci-fi tropes. Jason's brother is an amateur astronomer (no big deal; they were still studying the sky during the medieval period). Jason finds a "video tube" that needs a genetic sample to unlock it and allow people to watch its contents. The soldiers on Jason's worlds have "photo guns" (a name which really threw me since, instead of taking . . . well, photos, they instead are some sort of hybrid cross between a laser blaster and a flamethrower). And so on, and so forth. And yet in spite of these futuristic embellishments, Jason's society as a whole seems very backward still.

In some ways, the book is an odd blend of fantasy and sci-fi that doesn't quite mesh well enough and I think that's why I ultimately had problems really getting into the book. The setting kept me slightly off-balance and I could never really settle in.

Again, that's probably just me. You can let me know in the comments (keeping in mind that I won't be able to reply for a few more days). In the meantime, go check out what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Valerie Comer
R. L. Copple
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour: Starlighter Day One

Ain't technology grand? As of right now, I'm actually in New Orleans for the LCMS National Youth Gathering. But there's no way I'd miss a Blog Tour, even if I am physically separated from my computer by about half a continent. So I'm actually writing these posts about a week early and leaving it up to the little gnomes that maintain my blog while I'm away to see to it that they get posted at the proper time.

Wait, your blog doesn't have little gnomes? I'd better call in an exterminator.

Ahem. Well, that's really neither here nor there. This month, we're taking a look at Bryan Davis's latest offering, Starlighter, the first in the Dragons of Starlight series (which, in the interests of full disclosure, I received for free for review purposes from the publisher).


Two young people aren't sure if they should believe the legends. Jason Masters, a young warrior-in-training, has heard stories of dragons that kidnap people to slave away on their distant planet. Koren is a young slave girl on said dragon planet who has heard the rumors of where human beings originally came from. But both find themselves on an adventure. Jason learns the truth when he becomes the bodyguard for the local governor. Koren stumbles on her true history thanks to an incredible gift she's been given. They will soon find themselves working toward the same goal: saving the humans of Starlight from their dragon overlords.

Truth be told, I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. I enjoyed it while I was reading it for the most part. But it wasn't like the book sunk its hooks into me. And really, it didn't leave much of an impression once I was done. With some books (especially books in a series), finishing one book leaves me hungry for the next one. In this case, once I was done, I set the book aside and thought, "Huh. Okay read, but I'm fine." So to me, the story was a bit . . . well, forgettable. That's unfortunate, because I know that Davis can produce gripping stories that keep the reader on edge.

Davis's characters were fun, that's for sure. I liked Koren's dramatic streak and Jason's nobility. Tibber the Fibber made me chuckle on more than one occasion. And I especially liked Elyssa.

Maybe the problem is that I'm not the target audience. I mean, it's been a long since anyone considered me a teenager. I don't know. I probably won't be seeking out the future installments of this series but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't check it out. If you like a twisted adventure.

Go and see what the other tourists are saying (and just as a note, since I wrote this entry before I got the "official list" of participants, this is actually the list from last month's tour. I make no guarantees about the contents; some people may have joined. Others may have opted out):

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Valerie Comer
R. L. Copple
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Star Wars on a Subway Car

It's things like this that makes me wish I lived in New York. Not that I have that wish often, but there are days when I wish I could do stuff like this:

A Little Bit Wicked

A few years ago, my wife started watching this new show on TV and said that she thought that I might like it. At the time, I had a full viewing schedule and was hesitant to add another hour to it. But here's the thing I've learned over the past eight years of married life: when my wife thinks I'll like a TV show, she's probably right. Sad to say, the opposite isn't exactly true.

So I sat down to watch this quirky, funny TV show about a pie maker who has the unusual power of being able to bring a person back to life with a touch, a power that he naturally uses first to save the love of his life, and then to help a private investigator solve murders. Naturally. I wasn't too sure about this show. Yes, it was funny and witty and yes, I found myself smiling a lot at its quirks and oddities. But I wasn't hooked.

At least, I wasn't until Olive Snook started singing.

What a voice! Who was this powerhouse singer? I went to the internet and started poking around, trying to see if I could learn more about Kristin Chenoweth. YouTube was extremely helpful, providing gems like this one:



While Pushing Daisies has sadly been sent off to pasture, I was delighted when I spotted an autobiography by Chenoweth, entitled A Little Bit Wicked (Life, Love, and Faith in Stages). I knew my wife would want to read this one too. So in some ways, when I bought this for her for mother's day, it was a sort of a "bowling ball named Homer" type of gift. Yesterday I started reading said book. Late last night I finished said book. And now I can honestly say I appreciate Chenoweth a whole lot more!

The prose positively sparkles with her personality. There's a distinctive voice to the whole thing, filled with tidbits about her life and her views. And the things I learned! That Chenoweth was adopted and doesn't consider it a big deal. That she is a staunch Christian. That her college vocal coach encouraged her to sing from a certain part of her anatomy that I'm not comfortable identifying here which, thanks to an on-stage accident, also has the uncanny ability of predicting the weather (seriously). That she starred in an NBC sitcom that floundered upon arrival, one that I wish I could have watched, either then or now.

I'm glad that I got the opportunity to spend a while learning more about her. And I know I'll be looking forward to seeing what else she's up to. She's got a fan here, that's for sure.

Extra Lives

If you haven't noticed by now, I have a thing for videogames. So when I heard that a man named Tom Bissell had written a sort of philosophical treatise regarding videogames, namely Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter, I knew I had to check it out.

Bissell spends most of the book talking about different games he's played and the emotional and intellectual impact they had on him. As it turns out, Bissell is a console gamer whereas I'm primarily a PC gamer, so really, our list of games can't really intersect. But at the same time, there were a few points of contact and even though I haven't played many of the games Bissell discusses, I still found his description of those games fascinating.

To be completely honest, there were a few times when I felt as if Bissell was talking over the top of my head. It's been a long time since I read pure philosophy. And while this book doesn't qualify, it's pretty clear that Bissell intends his discussion of videogames to at least keep one foot within that realm.

What really kept my attention was Bissell's discussion of how videogames intersect with storytelling. I've mentioned this before, but I think there's some common ground between what videogames and authors do, lessons that can be passed from one camp to another. In some ways, Bissell's thesis seems to be that videogames should try to shrink that common ground as much as possible, that when videogame designers script their games too much, it lessens the potential impact a game can have on the player.

If I understood his ultimate point (and I may have missed it), it would seem that Bissell's belief is that videogames will finally reach that point of being "true art" when they can be made completely unscripted, when a player is dumped into a world with no script and no guidance and allowed to find his or her own story within the game's world. As near as I can tell, we're a long way off from that point, but it would be interesting to see what that kind of game would look like.

Mass Effect 2 DLC

One of the new trends in videogames is the release of downloadable content (or DLC) after the game has been released. I haven't had a whole lot of experience with this phenomenon. At least, I didn't until Mass Effect 2 came along. As you may recall, I really enjoyed the original game. Since they released the game, BioWare has released close to half a dozen DLC packs to expand on the game. Like one of Pavlov's dogs, I've salivated over them and downloaded them and played through them.

Some of them have been relatively inconsequential. The Equalizer pack added some extra armor options that really didn't change the way I played too much. I wore one of the visors for a while but then switched it out with a standard helmet for the health bonus. Truth be told, a lot of the new armor options (mostly helmets or visors) look just plain goofy, especially given the fact that they cover the character's face, which means you can't see Shepherd's expression in the many dialogue sections.

Another seemingly inconsequential addition was the Alternate Appearance Pack, which basically gave you three new outfits for some of your allies to wear. It's all superficial stuff; the new clothing doesn't bestow any tactical benefit. And it's a toss-up. Jack's new clothing seems completely out of character for her. Thane looks really cool. I mean, just look at him. The Drell assassin was cool to begin with, but dressed like that? Wow. But what I really like is the alternate outfit for Garrus. It just never made sense to me why he would want to lounge around in severely damaged battle armor after you recruited him. The alternate appearance corrects this. I wouldn't say that this is a "must get," but it's nice window dressing.

On to the more substantial additions. The first is Kasumi - Stolen Memory. It adds another ally for your character, Kasumi the Master Thief. She's an infiltrator, good at ninja-like attacks using a portable stealth field. I'm not sure how to integrate her into a normal mission. I've played through with her twice, once as a Vanguard and the second time as an Infiltrator. Naturally, two infiltrators on a mission seemed redundant and with the Vanguard's penchant for "storming" an enemy for up-close fighting, Kasumi's stealth attack didn't seem to fit. Maybe if I played as a Soldier? We'll have to see.

Like the other allies, Kasumi comes with her own loyalty mission. She needs Shepherd's help to retrieve something from an underworld kingpin. That "something" is her former partner/lover's gray box, a device that contains his memories. Apparently this gray box has Something Bad on it. I'm not being purposefully evasive here. Instead, I'm just being honest. Kasumi tells us that her partner unearthed something bad that the kingpin shouldn't have. The game never gets more specific than that.

In spite of the vagueness, the mission itself was a blast to complete. Shepherd and Kasumi have to infiltrate the kingpin's mansion in the middle of a party and have to find a way into his triply-locked vault to retrieve the gray box. And then fight their way out, naturally. Kasumi has some snappy dialogue and a great wit. I really wish there was more to Kasumi. Since she's part of a DLC, you can't have extended conversations with her the way you can with your other allies. All she offers are pithy one-liners and that gets boring after a while.

Overall, this is a great expansion pack and worth the points you have to spend to get it.

To me, the next DLC pack, the Firewalker pack, is something of a dud. Apparently some Mass Effect 2 fans were upset that they couldn't drive around on a planet's surface the way they could with the Mako in the first game. So BioWare put together a series of four missions that use a flying tank.

Here's the problem: I wasn't one of those fans. I hated driving around in the Mako. I still do. I mean, I'll go for a drive when I have to, but the minute I can end things, I'm back on board the Normandy heading on to the next planet. So driving this hovering tank thing through semi-hostile environments doesn't really appeal to me. The fact that the Firewalker levels are all fairly linear, straight-shots from Point A to Point B with a few rest stops on the way, doesn't help.

The pack's storyline, if it can be called as such, centers around some missing researchers who apparently disappeared. It's entirely forgettable, that's for sure.

The only real upshot to this pack is that it's part of the Cerberus Network, which means it's free. So I guess for a free expansion, it's not that bad.

The last bit of DLC fun came out just recently, and that's the Overlord pack. This one is fun. There aren't any new allies, but there's a fun story that centers around an attempt to fuse a human mind with a computer program to bring down the Geth, the Mass Effect world's robotic boogeymen. Naturally the project has gone awry and Shepherd and company has to go in and clean house. You have to explore a number of locations before confronting the Overlord VI and learning its deepest, darkest secret.

This one really shone. Lots of different levels and, unlike the other two story-driven DLC packs, this one made a bit more sense. There wasn't any sense of vagueness to the stakes. You knew you had to act and, more importantly, why. The design was fantastic, especially the final level (I won't go into details, but it was really cool). The atmosphere was pretty awesome too. The first time the VI made its presence known, I nearly jumped out of my chair.

There was only one real drawback: to get to different parts of the story, you have to ride the Firewalker. Grrrrrrr. Not cool. There was a bonus mission to search the area in that ludicrous flying deathbox for shiny MacGuffins. I chose not to do so the first time through.

That minor hiccup aside, Overlord is definitely the best of the bunch and well worth the scant points you have to spend to get it.

All of the DLCs can be found at the Mass Effect 2 website, as is a game demo for those of you who haven't experienced this fantastic game. As for me, as I was snaring pictures for this post, I noticed that there's a new DLC pack available. New weapon and armor. I just finished a playthrough and, I'll be honest, I think I need a break. But now I have some incentive to play again. And as far as I'm concerned, that's not a bad thing.

Nightshade

I've been looking forward to this one for a while. And boy howdy, Nightshade by Ronie Kendig did not disappoint.

Max Jacobs, a former Navy SEAL, has returned home from another deployment, only to find his life in shambles. He's suffering from PTSD and his temper is out of control. Worse, his wife Sydney serves him with divorce papers after an unfortunate incident.

Then a mysterious man approaches Max with a unique offer. He's putting together a special team, one tasked with carrying out the blackest of ops, a team called Nightshade. Things go well in their initial missions

But then they are called on to rescue a missionary family in the Philippines. Worse, a reporter is doing her best to pierce the veil of secrecy around Nightshade. Can Max lead his team through to success, keep their cover intact, and put the pieces of his life back together?

Like I said, I've been looking forward to this one for a while. I first heard a glimmer of it while listening to a recording from the ACFW Conference. Author John Olson used this book, yet to be published, as an example of writing plot burbs. And every now and then I heard more bits and pieces about the book and my anticipation would grow. So when this became available for pre-order, I put in mine right away.

Part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much is because Kendig doesn't get too bogged down in the action of the Nightshade missions. As a matter of fact, I was surprised at how those missions were largely absent. Yes, we caught glimmers of what they were doing (mostly at the end of the story as everything comes to a head). Instead, we were more focused on the Jacobs family, Max and Sydney, and how their lives were crumbling and how those lives could be rebuilt.

In some ways, this book reminds me a little of Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy in that both had a sort of elite commando unit. The key difference is that Clancy focused on the operational end where Kendig focused on the "backstage" stuff. The emotional impact of war, the grim realities of what our soldiers face. It's all excellent.

What has me smiling the most, though, is that on the back cover we have the promise of more books from Ronie Kendig in this series. Next up is Digitalis. I haven't put in my pre-order yet. But I may just have to.

The Button

My wife, who saw the movie this is parodying, assures me this is much better. Enjoy!

Alex Freaking Wong

I'm a huge fan of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance. And it's routines like this one, from this past Wednesday, that explains why. I can't embed it, but it's worth taking a look. The patient is Alex Freaking Wong, one of the contestants for this season and a ballet dancer. The doctor is tWitch, one of the All Stars. I'm thinking Alex is going to go pretty far unless he does something stupid, like set a kitten on fire during a solo or something.