CSFF Blog Tour: "The Skin Map" Day Two

Remember how yesterday, I said that I figured I'd have no problem reading The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead in four days? I knew I'd have no problem almost right away. That's because the first paragraph so grabbed me that I knew I had to keep reading.

Here it is:

Had he but known that before the day was over he would discover the hidden dimensions of the universe, Kit might have been better prepared. At least, he would have brought an umbrella.

I know, right? I laughed with sheer delight at the simplicity and, on one level, absurdity of that statement. An umbrella? Really? What does that have to do with the hidden dimensions of the universe. It raised just enough questions that I knew I had to keep reading.

That, I think, is the key to writing a great book. An author has to grab his or her reader by the end of the first page and compel them to keep reading. It's even better if he or she can do it by the end of the first paragraph. Or even the first line. Lawhead's book is a great example of this.

Just bringing this up sent me back to my bookshelf to look for other great first lines in other books. And I found a few.

This is from The Dark Glory War by Michael A. Stackpole:

The day they gave me my mask was the first day I felt truly alive.

Brings up a great question, doesn't it? Why is the main character receiving a mask? Why does it have such a profound effect on him? It's that sentence that brings us into a great adventure, one in which masks play a large part.

Here's the first paragraph from the best-selling book, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins:

When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim's warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. This is the day of the reaping.

Already we know that something bad is going to happen, something connected to the ominous sounding "reaping." Thus enticed, we continue into a gripping adventure.

Here's another one, this time from within the realm of Christian fiction, namely Rooms by James L. Rubart:

Why would a man he never knew build him a home on one of the most spectacular beaches on the West Coast?

An excellent question, one that encapsulates the story. We wonder the same thing and that keeps us reading as Micah Taylor tries to answer that question.

So is it absolutely necessary to have a killer opening line? Not necessarily. I was surprised at how long it took me to find these three examples. But it certainly doesn't hurt. I mean, a great opening paragraph made me want to read a book in four days. That, I would say, can be counted as a success.

How about you, fair readers? Know of any killer opening lines/paragraphs?

Be sure to check out what the other tourists have to say:

Red Bissell
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Jeff Chapman
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
George Duncan
April Erwin
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Shannon McDermott
Allen McGraw
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Gavin Patchett
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Kathleen Smith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Donna Swanson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Elizabeth Williams
Dave Wilson

CSFF Blog Tour: "The Skin Map" Day One

I was a little nervous about this one. See, I knew we were going to be covering The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead for this blog tour. I had requested a free reviewers copy from the publisher but I hadn't seen one yet. By my reckoning, the blog tour was going to get started soon and I hadn't read the book. And then, finally, the book arrived, a scant four days before the tour was scheduled to start. I panicked. My schedule was packed as it was. How was I going to read a 400-page tome in four days?

Well, it turns out I needn't have worried. Many tourists were in the same boat as me and so, our blog tour got pushed back by a week. But here's the ironic thing: this book was good enough, I could have easily devoured it in four days. Less than that, even. Lawhead has crafted a fun adventure that kept me turning pages.

Kit Livingstone is an ordinary guy from London setting out on an ordinary day when his life takes an unexpected turn. As he tries to take a shortcut through Stane Way, he runs into his great-grandfather, a man who supposedly walked out on his family close to a century earlier. Great-Grandpa Cosimo informs Kit that he's inherited the ability to travel to different dimensional realities via ley lines. Cosimo invites Kit to come along with him on a quest to find the titular Skin Map, a diagram of the intersecting universes tattooed on one of the earliest ley explorers.

But Kit and Cosimo aren't the only ones looking for the Skin Map. And ultimately, the Skin Map isn't the real prize. There's a greater treasure waiting to be discovered.

Like I said, I really enjoyed this book. In some ways, it reminded me of a Neil Gaiman story. It has that kind of wit coupled with the same kind of esoteric subject matter. Kit and his girlfriend Mina are great characters and I was rooting for them the whole time. It's easy to see that Lawhead spent a great deal of time researching his settings and they positively came to life for me on the page.

The plot itself is a bit winding and, at times, a little hard to follow. One character in particular kept popping up everywhere, enough so that I began to wonder if it was the same individual or copies from alternate realities. There also seemed to be a time-bending nature to some of the story; I honestly don't know if the story was told in a linear fashion or more of a "hop to this time, hop to that time" way. My only real gripe is that Lawhead's excursion to Egypt seemed tacked on. At least, at first. He tied it in nicely at the end, but when I was reading it originally, I couldn't figure out why Egyptian archaeology was included. Maybe it's just me.

In terms of faith content, this is definitely what I'd call "tiller fiction" in the spectrum of Christian fiction. While God is mentioned, it's usually in passing and not in any truly discernible Christian fashion. It's clear from his other works that Lawhead writes from a Christian worldview and I'm sure that worldview will continue to assert itself in future books.

All in all, it was a great book and I'm looking forward to the next in the series. Check out what the other tourists have to say:

Red Bissell
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Jeff Chapman
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
George Duncan
April Erwin
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Shannon McDermott
Allen McGraw
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Gavin Patchett
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Kathleen Smith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Donna Swanson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Elizabeth Williams
Dave Wilson

I died a little inside . . .

Remember that post I made a while back, how some Irish filmmaker claims to have caught sight of a time traveler caught on film in a '20s movie? Yeah, the experts have weighed in. Turns out the most likely explanation is that she was hard of hearing and had a compact ear trumpet.

Yeah, I know, I'm disappointed too. I mean, I'm well acquainted with Occam's Razor. Still, just a tiny little part of me is sad that the whole thing was debunked.

Beethoven's Imperial March

Gotta love classically trained pianists. To wit: The Imperial March (a.k.a. Darth Vader's theme song) as if written by Beethoven:

Want to colonize a planet?

NASA and DARPA are apparently working on a Hundred Year Starship to send humans out to alien worlds . . . and leave them there.

No, this isn't some new funky political prison. It's the first step of a colonization program.

Now we may never see the culmination of this project in my lifetime, but if they were calling for colonists, I'd be tempted. A little. Of course, I just asked my wife if she would come with me and she shot me down. So I guess I'm staying on Earth for the foreseeable future.

But it's still a cool story.

Would you go?

CDC Reports Drop in Teen Pregnancy

A few days ago, I saw an interesting article. The CDC apparently has reported that the teen birth rate has dropped to the lowest point in the last few years. That is good news. I hope it means that teenagers are making better decisions when it comes to sex and being smarter if they're making . . . well, how shall I put this? Less sanctified choices? Is that a clear enough euphemism?

But at the same time, a part of this report made me a little sad. Apparently Minnesota and Wisconsin have two of the lowest rates in the country. Good for us.

Unless you're a family waiting to adopt.

Can you help us? My wife and I have been waiting for over a year. If God wants us to wait longer, we will, but I also hope that right now, someone is reading this post and knows of a young lady who is considering adoption. If that's you, please pass along our contact information. We are home study approved and have a four year old son who is eager to have a little brother or sister (although he recently told us that he's sure we'll find him a little sister; we're fine either way).

If they want to contact us directly, they can send an e-mail to johnorjill (at) live (dot) com (replacing the words in parentheses with the proper symbols; we don't want to be inundated with spam). Or they can contact our agency, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota.

Come on, how can you say "No" to this face:



His, not mine, obviously.

Shakespeare in the Original Klingon . . . er, English

Okay, so I shouldn't go quoting Star Trek movies when I want to talk about something really cool.

When you think of William Shakespeare and read his plays, how do the characters sound in your mind? Pretty posh, right? Good, proper English accents. The sort you'd expect to hear while having tea with the Queen, right-o?

Wrong-o.

As it turns out, the English of Shakespeare's time sounded an awful lot like ours. And a professor at the University of Kansas is mounting a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with the actors doing original pronunciation. If you're lazy and don't feel like clicking the link, just watch the video below:



Something that I haven't really brought up before on this blog is the fact that I majored in theatre when I attended Concordia University in St. Paul. My third year there, we did a Shakespeare festival called Lovers, Heroes, and Fools. I played three fools. I tried to not take it personally.

Watching this video takes me back. And it makes me wish I could slip off to Kansas to take in a play. Looks like it would be a fun time.

I Have a Bad Feeling About This . . .

Rumor has it George Lucas might be cooking up more Star Wars movies, set 100 to 1,000 years after the original trilogy.

There's a massive disturbance in the Force. Huge. Sad thing is, I know I'd probably go to them. At least once.

Because I just can't help myself. George Lucas, why do you insist on hurting us?

Season in the Mist

Okay, so I took a chance with this one. I just finished reading Seasons in the Mist by Deborah Kinnard.

It's basically the story of a young woman named Bethany Lindstrom, a graduate student from Chicago who flies to England as part of her studies. But instead of heading to Oxford, as she plans, she winds up taking a trip to Cornwall, where she stays in an ancient manor. While there, she stumbles into a portal that sends her back in time to 14th century England. There she finds herself caught up in some sort of political imbroglio and attracted to Baron Michael Veryan.

Okay, so here's the good stuff. Kinnard nailed the voice of 14th century England. At least, I think she did. As near as I can tell, no modern anachronisms sneak into the text (unless they come from Beth, which makes sense). It's very obvious that Kinnard did her research when it came to 14th century Cornwall and England. I got the feel that I was there.

That said, though, I don't think this book was for me. Sure, the time travel element is speculative fiction but I'm not sure that it's what you would call central to the plot. Sure, Beth is a classic "fish out of water," but thanks to her studies, she adapts quickly. In many ways, this is just a historical romance with some spec fic window dressing.

In the end, it was an okay diversion but I think I'll get off here (since this is listed as Book One of a series). Maybe this would be better for those who want more romance in their spec fic. But it's not for me.

Time traveler caught on camera

I just came across this YouTube video. It's interesting, to say the least.



Now I have my doubts if this is really a time traveler. There's probably a perfectly reasonable explanation for what's going on. But it's still kind of creepy, right?

Hitler's War

I think I'm almost done with Harry Turtledove.

Don't get me wrong. I've loved his stuff in the past. I devoured his counterfactual history novels and simply adored what he did with the Confederates-as-Nazis series (I don't remember the name of the whole series; there were lots of smaller ones. American Empire?). He's also written some dynamite short stories that I've stumbled over in different anthologies. Yet the last few books of his I've read haven't wowed me.

So I thought I'd give Hitler's War a try. Like the cover blurb says, Turtledove was the master of alternate history and this seemed like an interesting concept. What if, instead of caving in to Hitler in 1938, Neville Chamberlain had refused to sign the Munich Accord? What if World War II started early?

In Turtledove's version of events, it doesn't really seem to have mattered that much. At least, I can't tell what the difference is. Oh, sure, Poland isn't conquered by Germany and instead sides with the Reich against the Soviets. And apparently some Spanish guy named Sanjurjo lives instead of dying in a fiery plane crash. But part of the problem with this book is that we don't have a broad view of the historical changes. All we see is battle after battle after battle. I suppose someone more familiar with the early stages of World War II could spot the changes better than me.

More problematic is Turtledove's character bloat. Rather than focus on one or two people, Turtledove slams together a cast of hundreds and sends the plot ricocheting through each of their viewpoints. I suppose this is helpful for us to keep track of the global scale of "the war that came early," but an unfortunate by-product is that we don't get to know any of the characters well. Simply put, there's no attachment point for the readers. It might have helped me if there were only two or three characters to follow. Granted, I would have lost the global view of the war, but I'm not sure said global view helped me all that much.

And I know I've said this before, but Turtledove seems to love repetitious phrases. There are certain turns of phrases that he overuses throughout the book. One of his pets, variations of "tell me I'm wrong," aren't as plentiful, but still creep up. Several characters pray to "a God they weren't sure they believed in anymore." That sort of thing. Rather than find fresh ways of saying something, we simply got characters repeating the same phrases in radically different situations.

I think this is intended to be the first book in a new series. I wish those who continue on luck, because this is where I get off. This war started early; my trip with Turtledove ends the same way.

Skipper Dan: The "Weird Al" Musical

Okay, I should probably be lying down and watching more episodes of Battlestar Galactica right now (I guess being sick has its perks), but I have to get this off my chest. Part of this stems from the fact that I haven't posted a blog entry in close to a week. I think I may be developing "the shakes," man. Or I feel obligated to the few people who come and visit my corner of cyberspace.

Anyway, regardless, the other day I had an idea. And by other day, I mean twenty years ago. When I was in high school, I discovered the joy that is theatre. And one day, it occurred to me that someone could take the music of "Weird Al" Yankovic and turn it into a stage musical. Sure, you'd have to stitch together the songs in a new way, but it could turn into something fun.

But at the time, I dismissed the idea, because no one would ever want to go to a musical based on the collected works of a particular recording artist. Right? Right? I'm right, aren't I?

Eventually this nascent idea vanished into whatever fog occupied my mind when I was a teenager. But funny thing about me: my mind is a big sponge. Stuff gets soaked up into it and then resurfaces at the oddest time. So this past week, as I was going about my business, the idea resurfaced.

So I decided to Tweet about it:

I don't know for sure why I did that. Maybe I was hoping that the Weird One himself would notice and respond. No such luck.

In spite of that, though, the idea wouldn't leave me alone. And so, the other night, I printed out a list of every song that "Weird Al" has made (I have them all on my iPod, so it didn't take long). I immediately eliminated his parodies and his polkas. As great as they are, I suspect that licensing the original music for a musical would be cost prohibitive. Then I started looking at the songs and playing some of them to see if any connections or ideas jumped out.

And wouldn't you know it . . .

Now I'm not saying that what I've come up with is necessarily great. This is barely a first draft, if that. I'm open to suggestions. But without any further ado, I give you:

Skipper Dan: The "Weird Al" Musical

ACT I: Our protagonist is a young man named Skipper Dan, a high school thespian with large dreams that crashed and burned badly. As our musical opens, Skipper Dan laments about his career path ("Skipper Dan" from Internet Leaks). He yearns to recapture his lost glory and escape the jungle cruise ride he now helms.

His friends, naturally, don't think that it's that big of a deal. There's Wally, his oldest and best friend who's a little off. There's Julia, his platonic female friend who works in the local nursing home. And then there's Gary, a slimy ladies man who has a somewhat genuine heart of gold. As they gather at Wally's house to enjoy Wally's superb waffles, Skipper Dan laments how his life is going. Gary tries to sympathize, saying that he doesn't think he'll ever achieve his dream of finding the perfect woman. The others scoff at this, pointing out that Gary has never had any success with women. Gary responds by detailing the faults of his previous romantic conquests ("Close But No Cigar" on Straight Outta Lynwood). Skipper Dan says that at least Gary's making some headway. He wishes that he could break free from the Jungle Cruise Ride. Gary and Dan ask Wally if he has any dreams. Wally responds by saying that his life is perfect the way it is. He's happy and the others should be too. The three boys press Julia if she has any unfulfilled dreams. She demurs, but it's pretty obvious that any dreams she has involves Dan.

Dan goes to work, settling into his usual routine of helming a boat through the Jungle Cruise Ride. But today, something is different. For starters, Dan's boss, Mr. Howler, explains that he's going on vacation and is leaving the park in Dan's hands. That would be momentous enough, but there is a stunning girl named Melanie at the park, a woman so beautiful that she has suitors lined up to express their affection for her ("Melanie" on Even Worse). Melanie has eyes only for Dan. She explains that she works for a Mr. Krog, a Hollywood producer, who wants to meet with the manager of the park. Of course, that would be Dan himself.

They go to a restaurant to meet Mr. Krog, who makes a big entrance, promising the world to the people gathered in the restaurant("The Check's in the Mail" on Weird Al Yankovic). Mr. Krog then explains that he is putting together a new horror movie, one he wants to shoot in the Jungle Cruise Ride. It would mean closing the park for the shooting schedule. Dan isn't sure, so Krog sweetens the deal by offering him the lead role. Dan is naturally interested; it would mean a return to the spotlight for him. He finally dares ask about the title and Krog tells him: Nature Trail to Hell . . . in 3D! ("Nature Trail to Hell" on In 3-D) Krog paints such a brilliant portrait of this movie, Dan immediately accepts.

Excited about his news, Dan rushes to tell Wally. Wally is unimpressed. He thinks that Dan is fine as he is. Dan moves on to find Julia at work at the nursing home. The residents aren't helpful; instead of telling Dan where Julia is, they badger him about how things used to be("When I Was Your Age" on Off the Deep End). Dan breaks away from the chorus to find Julia sitting with her favorite resident, Mr. Frump, an elderly man hooked up to a breathing apparatus. Julia is excited for Dan until she hears about Melanie. That upsets her but Dan, so excited about his big break, doesn't notice how hurt she is.

As the shooting at the Jungle Cruise Ride begins, Dan is in seventh heaven. He's sure that this is going to be his big break. He's especially flattered since Melanie seems to be lavishing a great deal of attention on him. But all is not right. Krog seems to want to tear up a lot of the Ride for the shooting. When Dan protests, Krog gives him an invitation to an exclusive Hollywood party. Melanie agrees to accompany Dan and his friends.

The party is great! For starters, Dan runs into a friend of his from college, a kid he knew as Jimmy the Geek who is now a huge Hollywood star ("That Boy Could Dance" on In 3-D). The only one not having a good time is Julia. She's upset by the way the way Melanie is treating Dan. Dan seems to think that she's in love with him, but it's pretty clear she's not.

Wally, in the meantime, overhears Melanie talking to Krog on her cellphone. It becomes pretty clear that Melanie and Krog are up to no good, that Melanie's job is to pretend to like Dan to keep him distracted. Wally tries to warn Dan, but Dan is too starstruck to listen. So Wally does the only thing he can: he tricks the party's DJ into playing polka to break it all up (NOTE: I'd love it if this polka could be one of the parodies, but there's that whole copyright thing).

Once the party is over, Dan confronts Wally. Wally points out that he's hurting Julia. Dan retorts that Wally is just jealous because Dan is finally achieving his dream, something Wally will never do because Wally is stupid. Dan is going to stick with Melanie and fulfill his destiny. Wally responds by saying that he lives his life the way he wants to, without compromise. In short, he dares to be stupid (What else? "Dare to Be Stupid" on Dare to Be Stupid).

ACT TWO: Julia is at work, sitting at the bedside of her favorite patient, Mr. Frump, and she expresses her love for the old man ("Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung" on Weird Al Yankovic). Wally and Gary visit her, mostly to make sure she's okay. Dan may be clueless about her true feelings, but they've known all along. It turns out that after the party, Wally did some digging on Krog. It turns out that Krog was never a Hollywood producer. Instead, he was partners with a land developer, a man who has wanted to tear down the Jungle Cruise Line for years to put up another strip mall. Mr. Howler had never wanted to sell. Wally suspects that Krog is going to wreck the Line in the bogus shooting of the movie, leaving such a mess that Mr. Howler will have no choice but to sell. This steels Julia's resolve. They have to save Dan.

Dan doesn't want to listen to Wally. Julia forges ahead, laying out the evidence. Dan doesn't want to listen to her either, saying that Melanie would never do anything to hurt him, that they're in love. Julia retorts that he wouldn't recognize someone who loves him if she were right in front of him. Wally and Julia leave. Dan is angry, but the seeds of doubt have been planted.

Dan realizes what a tool he's been. He confronts Krog, who admits to the truth. Why not? He signed a contract with Dan. He has the right to do what he wants. And if Dan does anything to break that contract, Krog will sue him ("I'll Sue Ya" on Straight Outta Lynwood). Dan is sent reeling, especially when Melanie treats him like garbage. She reveals that her job was just to keep Dan busy while Krog did his thing. Dan laments the death of his "relationship." ("You Don't Love Me Anymore" on Off the Deep End)

What can Dan do? Mr. Howler will be heartbroken when he discovers that his beloved Jungle Cruise Line has been wrecked and will probably take it out on Dan. Worse, Dan has wrecked his friendships with everyone. He's alone and unsure of what to do.

But his friends haven't abandoned him. Not at all. They rally around him, even Julia. But when Dan remains just as clueless around her, Julia can't take it any longer. She releases her pent up feelings ("You Make Me" on Even Worse) and kisses him.

With his friends at his side, Dan rallies. He steels himself by thinking of what his favorite celebrity would do ("Who, Chuck Norris?" "No, Charles Nelson Reilly!" ("CNR" on Internet Leaks)) and comes up with a plan to get Krog out of the park . . .

[NOTE: I have no idea what this plan entails. Just a few thoughts: it involves Gary putting the moves on Melanie ("Wanna B Ur Lovr" on Poodle Hat). Or maybe getting some help from their friend Jimmy, the actual Hollywood star. Beyond that, I don't know.]

In the end, Krog is defeated, and when Melanie tries to come crawling back to Dan to save her rear end, Dan responds by either telling her that he hasn't missed her since she's been gone ("Since You've Been Gone" on Bad Hair Day) OR he tells her he doesn't want to spend one more minute with her ("One More Minute" from Dare to Be Stupid) [NOTE: It's a toss-up on these two].

But what to do about the park? Well, as it turns out, Mr. Frump, Julia's favorite resident, recently passed away and his will stipulated that his massive fortune be left to whatever nurse showed him the most affection. Julia gives some of it to Dan so the park can be fixed.

When Mr. Howler returns from his vacation, he's none the wiser about what happened. Dan tenders his resignation. Mr. Howler is surprised and wonders if it's because Dan will finally pursue his dreams. Dan says that he will, but not his old dream. He's found a new one.

It entails using the rest of the Frump inheritance to help Wally open a Waffle House ("Waffle King" on Alapalooza) and, in the end, Dan realizes that sometimes the "stupid" dreams are the best, especially if it means being true to yourself, prompting the cast to reprise Dare to Be Stupid.

CURTAIN CALL

Yeah, I know. It's not perfect. It'd need a lot of work. But what do you think? How would Dan and friends evict the sinister Krog and his sidekick? Have I missed any part of Weird Al's catalog of original songs that should be included?

When WoW Meets Real-World Religion

I used to be an avid WoW-player. I think I've mentioned that before. Something that didn't often come up while I was playing was my chosen profession. It's not that I was trying to hide the fact that I'm a pastor. It just never really came up.

One time it did, though. I think it was on a Saturday. I had a few hours to kill before a funeral, so I logged on and decided to run a dungeon with a pick-up group. We did pretty well as a team, so well that one of our members suggested that we find a different dungeon and do it again. I had to beg off, explaining that I had to go officiate at that funeral.

That killed the conversation for a moment or two, but then the guy who made the suggestion we keep going thanked me for my help and offered his condolences to the family.

I suspect if I passed those on, it might have raised some eyebrows. "Hey, some random guy on an MMORPG who I just met this morning is sorry for your loss."

There's one other story I could tell, but it'd take too long. Suffice to say, for about a year, WoW was a great game to play for me. And my wife. She played too. Not as much as me, but she did. But after a while, we realized what a time sink it had become and decided to bow out.

Well, an article I read recently made me nostalgic. A fellow LCMS pastor was interviewed about his WoW experiences. He talks about the game's lore, its content, and does a great job explaining what our little corner of Christianity is all about.

I offer it to you for your consideration.

Man, I feel the itch to play some games. Maybe I better fire up Mass Effect 2 soon so I don't go back to WoW.

World War Z

Believe it or not, I'm not big on zombies. Seriously, I'm not. I know that my current avatar on Facebook and this blog is that of me as a walking dead. That has more to do with fighting the undead with garden plants than anything else. I have never seen a zombie flick (oh, wait, I did see Shaun of the Dead) and I really don't want to.

So why on earth would I pick up World War Z by Max Brooks? To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why. I know a classmate of mine from Seminary recommended it recently. I can vaguely recall positive reviews when it first came out. So when I saw it in a stack at a local Barnes & Nobel, I took the plunge.

I am so, so, so glad that I did. I may not be a fan of the undead, but Brooks crafted a book so gripping, so wonderful, I devoured it.

Brooks has a big job on his hand: tell the story of the zombie apocalypse. A global pandemic causes the recently deceased to rise again. The shuffling masses are out for human flesh and are well nigh unstoppable. So how does an author tell such a huge story?

By created a faux oral history, the way Studs Terkel used to do. We never really get a huge, bird's eye view of the story. Instead, we see little bits and pieces of it, just enough to get a taste of how it happened. We follow a Chinese doctor as he encounters one of the first outbreaks. We see snippets of the "Great Panic," as waves of the undead destroy society. We watch people around the world try to survive and rebuild. And then we march with the world's military as they leave the safe enclaves to retake the globe.

The remarkable thing about this book is how realistic it is. Yes, I know, the dead don't rise (this side of parousia, anyway, and without divine intervention), but that's not the point. I quickly realized that as far-fetched as the central premise is, Brooks crafted realistic stories. I caught myself nodding, thinking, Yes, that is how it would be. It really struck me as I read one soldier's account of the Battle of Yonkers. Brooks obviously did his research on all manner of topics, weaving them into the accounts.

Not all of the stories resonated with me, but there were a lot that just grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I'd love to list them all, but I honestly don't think I could.

What really surprised me was that the stories, while depicting swarms of flesh-eating zombies, a horror movie staple, the book itself was not as scary as I thought it would be. Nor as gross, either. There were a few eyebrow raising details, but nothing that made me want to stop reading.

This book was awesome. It's just that simple. I don't know if it'll be for all people, but it certainly was for me.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Venom and Song" Day Three

So here we are, the final day of the tour for Venom and Song by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper. While I really enjoyed this book, there was one thing that surprised me in the middle of the book, namely the fart jokes.

Yes, you read that right.

I won't go into details (spoilers and all that), but needless to say, it completely surprised me when I realized I had read a fart joke in the middle of the book. And then there were more after it. And by the time I made it to the end, I chuckled and said, "My guess is the target audience for this book is teenage boys."

Truth be told, I wasn't sure what to make of the fart jokes at first. I can honestly say I never thought I'd type those two words in connection with Christian fiction, but here we are. But as jarring as that moment was, I think in the end I don't mind them. After all, Christians fart. We do. It might not always be pleasant, but I can't think of a single passage that says that the act or making jokes about said act are somehow sinful. It may not be in the best taste, but hey, it's a book for boys. They'll eat it up.

Just kind of took me by surprise, that's all.

Go see what the other tourists have to say:

Angela
Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Amy Browning
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Melissa Carswell
Jeff Chapman
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
April Erwin
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Donita K. Paul
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
James Somers
Kathleen Smith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Jason Waguespac
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

CSFF Blog Tour: "Venom and Song" Day Two

Yesterday I spoke a little about how tasty crow can be. I certainly had my fair share to eat, I think, after reading Venom and Song by Christopher Hopper and Wayne Thomas Batson. Many of my complaints from the first book had been answered and I found myself enjoying the story a lot more.

That's especially true of one of the questions I wound up asking myself after reading the first book: were these books Christian? When I read the first book, I was worried because, while the elves made reference to a being named "Ellos," I wondered if this God-analogue was more of a Christian MacGuffin and it left me a bit unsatisfied.

Not so anymore, for two reasons. On the one hand, it felt as if Hopper and Batson increased the Christian connection a bit more. Perhaps I was looking a bit more carefully for it, but it certainly felt that way to me.

But the other reason why emerged while I was at the recent ACFW National Conference. The keynote speaker was the very funny Tim Downs and in one of his speeches, he raised an interesting point, one that kind of shook me up. He asked the question, "Must all Christian fiction serve the same purpose?" He said that a lot of people seem to think that Christian fiction must always present the Gospel in a clear and unadulterated way, almost like there has to be a checklist for each story. Does it contain the following factors, information, or details? If not, then it's not Christian. Downs wondered how many of those checks a story had to have to truly qualify as Christian.

Building from the parable of the sower and the seeds, Downs suggested that perhaps different stories can serve different functions within Christianity. Personally, I would have gone with a slightly different Scriptural foundation, namely 1 Corinthians 3:6, but the point would remain the same: some stories plant the seeds, some water a seed already planted. Some help bring in the harvest. But they all serve the purpose of spreading the Word. And some stories, perhaps, till the soil, preparing it for the planting. These stories, while not explicit with the Word or "Christian content," still serve a purpose by arising from a Christian worldview and bringing the reader into it.

The more I've been thinking about what Downs had to say, the more I've realized what a weird, somewhat hypocritical attitude I've had in the past few years. I've been dinging books for not being "Christian" enough, while the whole time I've been loudly proclaiming that we don't need a full Gospel presentation. That attitude reared its ugly head a year ago when I read Batson and Hopper's first book in this series. I should have recognized it for what it was: a tiller book, one founded in a Christian worldview.

We need that kind of variety in Christian fiction. Some can till, some can plant, some can water, some can assist with the harvest. And all of it can fall under the broad category of "Christian fiction."

See what else the other tourists have to say:

Angela
Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Amy Browning
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Melissa Carswell
Jeff Chapman
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
April Erwin
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Donita K. Paul
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
James Somers
Kathleen Smith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Jason Waguespac
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

CSFF Blog Tour: "Venom and Song" Day One

To be perfectly honest, I was worried about this one.

When I received my free review copy of Venom and Song by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper, it dredged up some old memories. A little less than a year ago, the tour focused on Curse of the Spider King, and I remembered that while I thought the book was entertaining, I had some concerns. I wasn't too sure what I'd find this time around.

Thankfully, my fears proved unfounded. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The story picks up where the previous book left off. The Seven Lords of Berinfell, elves who have been raised on Earth, have returned to their besieged people. The time has come for the elves to fight against the evil Spider King. But first the lords must train in their unique abilities, such as throwing fire, walking through the air, and mind reading. But the Spider King is not going to wait idly while his hated enemies rally their forces. He has prepared his defenses well and he's not going down without a fight.

As I said, I was worried going into this story but thankfully, my fears proved unfounded. I really enjoyed this book almost from the beginning. It sucked me in completely. Hopper and Batson even addressed one of the issues I worried about in the first book and did so in a believable and satisfying way.

The only complaint I had (and it was minor) was the fact that I felt a little lost as the story started. There was no real introduction, no explanation of who the characters were. We were dumped into the heat of battle, characters running everywhere, with little chance to get back up to speed. It had been a year since I read the previous book, so I wasn't sure who was who or who could do what or anything like that. For a moment, I wished for a Star Wars-like roller text, giving me the whos and wheres and stuff like that. But like I said, it's a minor gripe.

Go and see what else the tourists have to say:

Angela
Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Amy Browning
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Melissa Carswell
Jeff Chapman
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
April Erwin
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Donita K. Paul
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
James Somers
Kathleen Smith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Jason Waguespac
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

The Art of War for Writers

So one of the things that always happens when I attend the ACFW National Conference is that I come home with a small library of books in the bottom of my suitcase. Truth be told, I sometimes wish I could see the reaction of the hapless TSA agent who chooses to inspect my suitcase. I can only imagine the consternation as to why anyone would travel with close to a dozen books crammed around shoes and a toiletries bag. At any rate, this book, namely James Scott Bell's The Art of War for Writers, was one such purchase from the conference.

I've read a number of craft books and most of them focus on one or two issues at a time. Not this book. Instead, Bell seems more interested in the "big picture" of writing, the attitudes and habits and practices that aspiring authors can and should emulate. Some of it is practical advice, some of it is more philosophical encouragement, but it's all good stuff relating to how an author creates a story, captures it in print, and then goes about selling it.

Some of it is familiar. For example, another author used the pyramid illustration in #16 (although they didn't include the Wheel of Fortune at the apex of the pyramid). And I've heard a lot of these tips in conferences and in other books. But this is a refreshing, fast read that helps keep authors focused on proven ways that work. In other words, every writer, would-be or otherwise, should take a course in the art of warfare from James Scott Bell.

Wordcount Wednesday

Well, I think I've almost recovered from my weekend in Indianapolis. I was there for the annual ACFW Conference. Admittedly, as of six months ago, I was sure I wasn't going to go. But I made the trip and I'm so glad that I did.

For starters, there's all the cool people that I met, far too many to list here. Not only that, but I also reconnected with a lot of friends as well. The awards banquet in particular was a blast. We got a bunch of YA and speculative fiction authors together for what I affectionately call "the rowdy table."


Okay, so we weren't rowdy per se. Very well behaved, as a matter of fact. Although Jeff Gerke of Marcher Lord Press and I tried to hijack the banquet's live blog feed and were stopped in our nefarious plan. Oh well.


That's one of the things that makes the ACFW Conference so much fun. Reconnecting with "old" friends (like Ben Erlichman, who isn't really old in terms of age or friendship length; I only met him last year) . . .

. . . or new friends, like agent extraordinaire Amanda Luedeke.

Plus there's all the courses. I learned a ton of stuff from lots of industry professionals. And yes, I can get a little more specific than that, why do you ask? I took courses on legal pitfalls, both in the real world and writing legal scenes. I sat in on a mock publishing board meeting. Best of all, I think, was the marketing class with "the bad boy of the CBA," agent Chip MacGregor and best-selling author Jim Rubart. It was like drinking from a fire hose. But I did come away with one great thing. I think I have my brand.

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a bit of a geek. No, it's true. You can say it. I'm well aware. Currently I have a zombie as my blog's avatar. In the past, I was a Vulcan. I blog about video games (the demo of Civilization V is downloading as I write this). I write sci-fi and fantasy (more of the former lately). I'm a liturgy nerd and a freak when it comes to Biblical history. It's who I am. I know it. I live it. It's part of who I am by the grace of God.

So I'm all about "Geeky Grace." It's who I am. It's the kind of stories I write. And I think it's my brand. An on-line friend (and, by a strange coincidence, a neighbor of mine . . . long story) actually put together a logo for me:


I've got some ideas of where to go with this, but nothing set in stone. Stay tuned, I guess.

And of course, there are the meetings and appointments with editors and agents. I primarily went to the conference to pitch Failstate, my YA superhero story (although I did talk to one editor about Numb). I was asked to send in chapters and proposals, even a few full manuscripts. The most frightening (for me) was when an agent requested a full manuscript of Failstate, but only if I can cut 30,000 words from it first. Wow. Not sure where to start there, but I'm getting out my literary chainsaw and getting to work on that soon.

In the meantime, I'm settling back into my routine here. But I am playing with the idea of writing a new short story, something that occurred to me while I was in Indianapolis. Time to get cracking.

The Muse

You know, I should probably be blogging about the recently ended ACFW National Conference. After all, I just spent four days in the city of Indianapolis, learning about writing and making some new friends and getting some great opportunities. But truth be told, I'm still processing it all. Maybe later. For now, let's talk about the book I read on my five hour layover in Milwaukee on the way home. That would be The Muse by Fred Warren.

In some ways, reading this book is a mea culpa. At one point in the Conference, I had boldly claimed I had read all of the entries for the Carol Award's speculative category this year. In actual truth, I had read all of them but one, namely this one. So while I was on that FIVE HOUR LAYOVER IN MILWAUKEE, I decided I had best rectify the situation.

Stan Marino is an author living somewhere in the environs of Minneapolis and he's stuck. He's trying to finish a fantasy book and he's run out of creative juice. So has his sci-fi writing buddy Davos and their partner in crime, the vampire romance author Jilly. They're all suffering from writers' block. But a solution is at hand, one that could very well kill them in the end.

This was a fast read. I think I burned through it in about two and a half hours. And it was a fun read too. Warren has a definite wit and zing to his writing that I appreciated. The plot was a little predictable (once all the pieces were in place, I kind of figured out what was going on and had an idea where things were going). But that didn't make the story any less enjoyable. There were plenty of surprises lurking within the pages of this book to really keep me reading.

So there we go. Bed soon. Tired from Conference. But good book under belt. Losing ability to form proper sentences with actual subjects. Bad sign.

Wordcount Wednesday

Wow. I just checked. It's been three months since I did a Wordcount Wednesday post! I know, I know, I'm awful, but I have a good reason why. I've been working on Failstate, polishing and editing and slicing and dicing and revamping and reordering and . . . well, you get the idea. And I was not slaving in the editing mines alone. The one, the only, the inimitable Sharon Hinck was toiling with me, guiding me and helping me. She helped nudge me in better directions, pointed out places where my characters didn't quite work, and generally helped me see both the strengths and weaknesses of my prose.

Now I considered continuing my Wordcount Wednesdays, but I knew that I'd be so all over the place, working on this chapter here and then that chapter there, my wordcount would fluctuate like crazy and would be too hard to track. So I put it all on hold. I didn't keep track of it at all, having no idea if my total was rising, falling, remaining stable. I knew I had cut half a dozen chapters but expanded others. It wasn't until I put the finishing touches on the final chapter that I broke out my notebook and calculator to see what the damages were.

So here we go, the moment of truth. Before I began this latest edit, Failstate clocked in at 111,885 words. I had hoped to drop a lot of those words, to at least get the count below a hundred grand. And I did it, but just barely. As of right now, Failstate is 98,743 words. So I did manage to lose 13,142 words, not as many as I hoped to, but not too bad. That final count might fluctuate a little. I don't know if I can cut much more but I'm sure I could keep tweaking. There's always room for improvement.

So what's next? I'm not too sure. One thing I do know, this Friday I'm off to the ACFW Conference in Indianapolis. I'll be doing my best to sell both Failstate and maybe even Numb. Who knows? I'll be praying for success but leaving it in God's hands because honestly, that's the best place to leave my writing career. He's got it under control. If this is my year, so be it. If not, I'll just keep working.

I'm just not sure on what . . .

Mockingjay

Well, well, well. Here we are, at the end of the road. And it's not at all what I hoped for. I placed my pre-order for Suzanne Collins's Mockingjay the minute I finished reading Catching Fire, hoping for a great conclusion, a story that ends with a major bang. Instead, I got a confused and somewhat muddled mess.

District 12 is no more. The Capitol has firebombed it into oblivion. Katniss Everdeen, the Girl Who Was On Fire, and what few refugees are left, have sought refuge in District 13, the home of a colossal war machine that is bent on overthrowing the vicious President Snow and his cruel government. But what role will Katniss play in the upcoming rebellion? Well, it's obvious that the rebel leadership wants her to be the Mockingjay, the symbol of defiance, a rallying point to bring the other Districts in line. But can Katniss truly find herself in this role? And what will happen when she's finally reunited with Peeta, her partner from the Hunger Games?

To be fair, there was a lot riding on this last book. The first two were so excellent and so gripping, Collins set a very high bar for herself. Sadly, she didn't reach it. The plot and character development meander quite a bit through the story as Katniss finds her place and her voice in the rebellion. There are parts that sparkle and I was left wondering what was going to happen with the whole Katniss-Gale-Peeta love triangle. But sadly, when I finished the book, I was left feeling . . . well, a bit empty. Not at all satisfied.

Now granted, I only finished reading the book about twelve hours ago, so I haven't had a lot of time to analyze what I've read and why I'm feeling so disappointed. But I have some preliminary thoughts I'd like to share.

First of all, there's what the book lacked: another Game. That's what truly made the first two books so special, the idea of the Districts sending their children into the Hunger Games. I was riveted through what happened to Katniss in the first book. When I read the second, I wondered how Collins would incorporate this unique concept again, hence why I was fascinated by the Quarter Quell, how similar and yet different it was from Katniss's first trip into the arena.

Collins doesn't send anyone into the Games this time. She does try to paint the on-going rebellion as a "Games-in-real-life" kind of thing by having Katniss followed around by a camera crew, but it's not the same. It's not even close. So there's the first problem: one of the things that made Collins's book so unique was missing.

Second, there's the focus. Collins seemed more interested in what was going on around Katniss than in Katniss and her emotional journey. When Peeta and Katniss were reunited, I was at first thrilled and then crushed (no spoilers here, I hope) but then Peeta faded into the background, barely registering. The same thing happens to Gale throughout the book. He's little more than an aggressive, war-mongering sidekick with no real emotional entanglement. Part of the zing of the first two books was the whole "love triangle" with Katniss, Peeta, and Gale. And even though the question is resolved in the end, it was done in such a haphazard way it didn't really feel like a resolution. Katniss didn't earn a resolution or even marginally participate in one. Instead, Collins just told us what the resolution was with very little build up or logic to it, especially given what happened to all the characters in the book.

Third, there's the sprinting. It almost feels as though Collins had a wordcount limit she couldn't exceed. She meandered through the rest of the book and, once the war was resolved, she realized she didn't nearly have enough space to finish the disparate story threads and do justice to them. But rather than go back and do some cutting, she simply sprinted through to the ending, skimming over major developments that, in my not-so-humble opinion, deserved deeper treatment. Once again, the resolution to the love triangle. Given how central that was to the first two books, it deserved to be featured a lot more and have at least a couple of chapters dedicated to its eventual resolution so we understand why Katniss does what she does and how she comes to her final conclusions.

All in all, it was an okay book. I really wish it could have been better, because I think Katniss deserved better given all that she's been through.

Gods of Asgard

So recently, I was at the Great Minnesota Get-Together to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert and I had a little time to kill. So I headed over to the Heritage Square to look at the crafty vendors and see what they were selling. In one little shop, I spotted a graphic novel called Gods of Asgard by Erik Evensen. I flipped through it for a moment or two but put it back. Then, after heading out to look at other vendors, I came back and bought the book.

See, I'm familiar with Greek mythology. I've even read some Egyptian mythology in the past. But I'm not all that familiar with Norse mythology. Sure, I've read a Christian novel in the past few years that baptized aspects of Norse mythology. I've heard the term "Ragnarok" used at different times. There's an Odin, Thor, and Loki in Starcraft II. And, of course, there's the big Marvel blockbuster coming out next year. But I don't know much about the source material. I figured a graphic novel interpretation might be a good introduction tot he larger myths. Hence my purchase. And while I've flipped through the book occasionally since buying it, I didn't have a chance to sit down and read it until now.

By and large, the book did what it's supposed to do. Evensen's art is decent (although I'm not the best judge; I'm not that artistic, nor am I a connoisseur of comic book art). The stories are told crisply and simply with little explanation. In some notes at the end of the book, he explained that he chose to portray the gods and goddesses of Asgard as being very human, dressed simply, with little ornamentation to their costumes or residences. It worked quite well, especially given their all-too-human escapades. I especially appreciated the notes that Evensen included at the end, which explained some of his interpretive choices.

What frustrates me, though, is Loki. This is not Evensen's fault. It would appear that Loki's character underwent something of an evolution in Norse folklore, going from tricky blood brother of Odin to really mean and nasty jerk, the instigator of most of the gods' troubles. There's little explanation as to what changed and why he would suddenly help in the murder of Balder. I realize that Evensen, staying true to the source material, did his best but in terms of craft, the transition is jarring and perplexing. It makes me wonder what happened "behind the scenes" in terms of story to help explain why Loki changed so drastically. It also makes me wonder what kind of societal change brought about Loki's transformation within the Norse religion. Evensen mentions that some scholars think that the Norse concept of Ragnarok, the final battle between the gods and their enemies (aided and led by Loki, it would seem) was somehow influenced by Christianity and our concept of Armageddon. Evensen doesn't believe that to be true, but if it were, I wonder if the Norsemen hearing about a different "father of lies" started to merge Satan with Loki.

That's just a guess; I have no idea if that's true. In the end, Evensen's book was a good introduction but it's raised more questions for me. I may have to track down some more books and do some more reading, if only to see if I can figure out what Loki's problem is.

It's A Trap!

Okay, I'm a huge nerd and a Star Wars fan, but come on. Ackbar? Really?

Evil Genius

So how much effort should eight dollars actually earn?

I just got finished reading Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks and, I've got to say, I think I came out short in terms of the whole money spent to effort put out (by me) ratio. To put it bluntly, this book was horrible.

In theory, this should be a good story. At an early age, Cadel Piggott discovers an interesting truth about himself: he's actually the son of the infamous Dr. Darkkon, a mad genius bent on world domination. Cadel, it turns out, has inherited his dad's impressive intellect, especially when it comes to computers and complex systems. In his tween years, Cadel uses his genius to cause traffic jams and train delays. As he enters his teenage years, he's skipped ahead through high school, where he begins to study human interactions. And finally, at the age of thirteen, he attends a special university, the Axis Institute. This is an institution of higher education where the students study such courses in Forgery, Embezzlement, Misinformation, and Pure Evil, which are taught by some of the greatest criminal minds the world knows. In short, it's a college where the students are being trained to be supervillains.

Awesome, right? Sort of an evil Hogwarts. But as great as the basic premise is, Jinks botches the delivery almost completely.

For starters, there's Cadel. For at least the first half of the book, Cadel doesn't have any sort of ambition for himself, by which I mean he has no long-term goals. He doesn't actually want anything in terms of the "big pictures." As a result, he just sort of drifts through life, pushed this way and that by Dr. Darkkon and the doc's henchman, Dr. Thaddeus Roth. They basically dictate what Cadel will do and when he will do it. They suggest he try some new nefarious scheme; Cadel obediently does so. He's spineless. He's a sponge. He's not very interesting. He doesn't really develop any "big picture" desires until 250 pages into the book. That's half of the story! If I hadn't actually paid for this book, I probably would have stopped reading long before Cadel becomes . . . well, a person.

More problematic is the fact that there doesn't seem to be an overall plot to this book at all. There's just a bunch of random happenings in Cadel's life as he grows up and goes to the Axis Institute. Now, to be fair, I got the idea that there was something bigger happening behind the scenes at Axis, something about a plague kept in a vial (I think). And apparently Darkkon had some sort of ulterior motive in staffing the Institute that's never really made clear (until one guy comes out and states it after it's all said and done). But these plots never really seem to intersect with Cadel in a meaningful way. He just notices little corners of them from time to time before he drifts off to another boring part of his existence.

What really frustrated me was how vague Jinks was at times about Cadel's actions. For example, at one point, Cadel decides he needs to take revenge on his high school classmates before they graduate. Why is never really explained. And we're told that he does a lot of planning for it. And we're told in a single sentence that Cadel succeeds in his revenge. But we're never shown how he accomplished this or what, exactly, he hoped to accomplish by doing what he does. In short, there are big holes in this book.

In short, this was a waste of my time and money. Seriously. I know that there's a sequel coming out (or maybe it already has, I don't know). No way am I going to waste any more on Cadel Piggott. He's sucked up too much from me already.

God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck

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

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

Harry Potter revisited

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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