Star Wars (as retold by someone who hasn't seen it)

Oh my word.

Adam

Jill tracked down a copy of this book for me and brought it home. I'm really glad she did.

Adam by Ted Dekker is a rollicking thriller. FBI profiler Daniel Clark is on the track of a serial killer known only as "Eve." Eve is a careful individual who has killed fifteen women. Clark is desperate to stop him. He's obsessed with Eve, to the point that he drove away his wife, Heather.

Then it would appear that Daniel has caught a break: they think they've found Eve's hideout and they might be able to save his sixteenth victim. Only things go awry when Eve shoots and kills Daniel.

Luckily for Daniel, his new partner, Dr. Lori Ames, is able to bring him back. And now Daniel is even more determined to stop him, especially when he learns that Heather's life is on the line.

This was a rollicking good read and I pretty much devoured it over the past couple of days. Like many of Dekker's latest books, it seems to be a little light on spirituality, but that changes in the last quarter of the book.

I'll just add this one last thought: the book that Father Seymour suggests to Heather Clark toward the end of the book, Hostage to the Devil is indeed a real book. I've read it. It scared me half to death, so much so that I could only read four or five pages at a time and in the middle of the day. Fair warning.

Saving Charlie

Maybe it's that I read this two years too late. More likely, it's just not that good of a book. But I can sum up Saving Charlie in three words: junk food fiction.

Remember how good Heroes used to be? The mystery, the twists, the turns? The plot that was obviously ripped off from Watchmen? When I started reading Saving Charlie, I was hoping that I would be transported back to the realm of Heroes Season One, when things were good, when poor Hiro Nakamura traveled back in time to save a sweet waitress with an incredible memory named Charlie. Instead, I found a bland, cookie cutter story with no twists and little to enjoy.

The problem with the book is that Aury Wallington stuck slavishly to what we already knew about Hiro and Charlie: Sylar (called Brain Man in this book) kills her at her job, so Hiro tries to go back one day to save her, only to wind up going back six months. He sets out to save her, only he falls in love with her and she with him. And then it turns out she's destined to die.

Those who have read my blog know I'm averse to posting spoilers, but here's the kicker: if you saw the episodes with Charlie in the first season, you know the entire plot of this book! There are no surprises, nothing that made me go, "Whoa!" There's little conflict, little confusion, and very little to enjoy.

Here's what I think: Wallington missed a prime opportunity to add to the Heroes canon. Hiro spent six months in Odessa, Texas, waiting to save the woman he loved. Are we to really believe that Hiro would just sit in a hotel room and do nothing? It would have been a lot cooler if Hiro would have found adventure in Odessa with the woman he comes to love.

Just imagine it: there's some sort of crime in Odessa, one that Hiro is blamed for by Lloyd, a cop who yearns for Charlie's affection. Hiro needs to use his powers and convince Charlie to use her phenomenal memory to track down the real culprit because if he doesn't, he'll wind up in jail and he won't be able to meet his destiny.

Wouldn't that have been fun? A new Hiro story! Instead, all we get is predictable plots with the barest flickers of humor.

One reviewer on Amazon summed it up best: It's not Saving Charlie. It's really about saving your money and your time. Don't bother.

Bender's Game

While Isaiah was sleeping, I watched the latest addition to Futurama, namely Bender's Game.

In this latest installment, a dark matter fuel shortage is hitting the world and Professor Farnsworth knows a way to stop the evil Mom. But nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

It was a fun ride. I have to admit, the weird fantasy storyline seemed a bit forced on, like they had half a plot and decided to glom on something at the end, but hey, it's a show that features one-eyed sewer mutants, alcoholic robots, and (my personal favorite) lobster aliens who somehow become doctors.

What really has me a little irked, though, is the lack of continuity between the three new movies. I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum here.

So at the end of the series, it appeared as though Fry and Leela were finally going to be together. At least, that seems to be what they were building up to, especially given the last few moments of the show. And then "Bender's Big Score" came out and everything was forgotten. Leela is all hot for Lars and she shows little interest in Fry. Well, until the end.

While the anomaly from the end of "Bender's Big Score" does feature prominently in "Beast with a Billion Backs," little else carries through. Fry suddenly forgets about Leela completely to go out with some weird bimbo (I forget her name). Given the way the first movie ended, that seemed a bit off to me.

And now, in this movie, there's no mention of Fry and Leela's disfunctional romance. No mention of Amy or Kiff. To put it bluntly, I expected better continuity.

That's not to say that this wasn't a fun ride. It was. But a little more effort to blend all the stories together (or, at the very least, explain away these relational hiccups) would have been appreciated.

Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi Volume 2

About a month ago, I reviewed some Star Wars novels and said that I much prefered reading about the time before the prequels and original trilogy. I may have to revise my opinion a bit, especially since I've finished reading Star Wars Omnibus: Tales of the Jedi Volume 2.

You'd think this would be good. It tells the stories of the ancient Jedi Knights, set approximately 4,000 years before the original Star Wars trilogy. It fills in backstory for the Old Republic, with the Jedi fighting the evil followers of Sith magic. But there are problems.

Some of the problems can't be helped. These stories were written before George Lucas revealed a lot about the way Jedi are supposed to live. For example, one of the main characters, Nomi Sunrider, was married and had a child before she became a Jedi. Two other Jedi are married to each other. And there is plenty of references to other Jedi getting married and having children. Needless to say, I'm curious to see how the folks at LucasFilm will retcon all of this to preserve the continuity in the Expanded Universe.

But more importantly, there's a lot lacking in these stories. Simple craft is one thing that is really missing. The storytellers seemed content to just "tell" us everything in boxes rather than "show" us. That's an odd choice, if you think about it, since this is a visual medium and it should have been pretty easy to show us instead of bludgeon us with the blunt end of the plot.

The story is lacking as well. This volume centers around the reborn Sith, personified in Exar Kun. I had built Exar Kun up in my mind as a titanic figure, darkness incarnate. He doesn't come across that way. He's just a guy who feels like following the Dark Side for no discernable reason.

Not only that, but I really question the whole "Krath" subplot as well. Are we to seriously believe that a five-planet star system ruled by spoiled youth who dabble in Sith magic is a viable threat to the Jedi and the Republic?

The art is a toss up. I didn't really like it, but at the same time, the rough drawings really gave the stories an ancient feel to it. You could tell that this was the "history" of Star Wars, moreso than the Knights of the Old Republic games.

Speaking of which, I couldn't help but draw comparisons to that, especially the first one. If Exar Kun is such a bad guy, why wasn't he more sinister, like Darth Revan or Darth Malak?

There was one bright spot in this book, and that was the final story, "Redemption." I liked the art better and the story flowed better as well. If the whole book was like that, I would have loved it. As it is, it's just okay.

Star Wars vs. Star Trek

And while I may have made the campaign commercials, I am not in any way responsible for this one. I wish I was though.

Cinematic Titanic

So every Christmas, my brother-in-law supplies me with geeky gifts, usually from Comic Con. Autographed photos, drawings, and so on. Well, you can imagine my consternation when I opened a DVD of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" performed by some group called "Cinematic Titanic."

Really? Someone else dared riff on this? Let me explain why this upset me: one of my holiday traditions is to break out one of two Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes. This year, it was "Santa Claus," a Mexican kids' movie that featured a fight to death between Santa and the devil. Seriously. It's so great.

The other is "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians." So how could some other group dare transgress such a great episode?

I didn't realize that this was done by Joel Hodgson along with four other MST3K veterans. Tonight I broke it out and decided to see how they updated it.

It was okay. Part of the problem is I've seen the MST3K version so often, I "heard" the jokes from that a split second before they made the new ones. It was still very funny.

The only gripe I have is that I didn't totally understand the format of the show. I guess the cast was in some sort of compound to make some sort of time capsule thingy. Why? No idea. I mean, in a show like this, the premise backstory isn't all that important, but it would have been nice to know exactly why these five people are being forced to watch bad movies.

So I guess I have something new to watch for. It'll be fun to see some "new" bad movie riffs!

Plastic Jesus

I don't know why I got this exactly. Long story. Moving on. Let's talk Plastic Jesus by Eric Sandras.

Sandras's thesis is that far too many Christians are stuck in what he terms "spiritual suburbia." It's pretty on the outside, hollow in the inside. We settle for less than what God intends, often ignoring our calling and getting too involved in things that seem helpful and holy, but ultimately don't bring us closer to God.

It was an interesting read, full of many insightful stories and ideas. It's a good "afflicting the comfortable" type of book, holding a mirror up to contemporary Christian society and urging them to search for a deeper relationship with God.

My one complaint is that while Sandras identifies many problems, he doesn't offer many solutions. He makes a few suggestions how to change one's faith but nothing that seems to go too deep. That's not exactly helpful, especially with a book like this. A reader might see how hollow their faith is but then have little to no idea how to "fix" things. Given how short the book is, Sandras probably could have included a little more material.

Ice

Imagine my delight at finding another Christian science fiction book at my local library. It's rare to find books like that, so finding Ice by Shane Johnson was a treat.

At least it was until I started reading it.

I didn't care for this book at all. To put it bluntly, it's an altar call wrapped in a science fiction story, one that really didn't work for me.

The premise itself is interesting: Johnson creates a counterfactual history where the Apollo program was extended to Apollo 20. On this fictional Apollo 19, two astronauts are sent to the lunar south pole, only to have the lander malfunction and strand them there. As their supplies run low, the two astronauts head out into the darkness to see what they can see. And that's when they make a discovery that could easily set the whole world on its ear.

I won't say much more than that. I will, however, explain some of my frustration with a sort of running commentary.

The initial crisis, namely the malfunctioning lander, comes pretty early in the story (hence why I said that it happens; it's not much of a spoiler). It helps kick things off, but it made me worry. Johnson engages in some heavy-handed preaching in his book and it starts when the lander's engine won't fire. One of the stranded astronauts is a Christian and the other isn't, so naturally, the Christian starts witnessing to the non-Christian. And I grew worried because I feared that the entire book would turn into one long altar call set on the moon between two doomed men. It didn't, but I'll explain why I worried about this in a little bit.

My second real frustration came when Johnson created a scene where NASA scientists conclude that the best explanation for why the engine didn't fire was because it was Lunar Module #13. Seriously. That's the explanation they come up with and there's nothing better offered. This might be Monday morning quarterbacking, but it might have satisfied me more if Johnson came up with a better reason. Maybe something broke that the astronauts can't fix. I don't know, but the mysterious break-down and nonsensical partial explanation just didn't work.

So off the astronauts go, deep into the lunar darkness, and I braced myself for more heavy handed preaching. That didn't happen, thankfully, as the two astronauts made their startling discovery (I won't say what it is in case you want to read this for yourself).

Shortly thereafter, I was able to predict what the rest of the book was going to be. And the sad thing is, I nailed it. Perfectly. I was able to predict every single last turn (except for one). And that really annoyed me.

To add to my frustration, Johnson threw in a weird time bending plot line that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. I mean, he had to do it to get some of his information across, but as I was reaidng it, I kept thinking, "No way. No way. No way." My disbelief refused to remain suspended and kept rattling in its cage.

By the time the book wrapped up (with more heavy handed preaching and some well nigh nonsensical speculation about the antedeluvial world and allegorical interpretation of some Biblical stories that came completely out of left field), I was glad I didn't spend any money on this book.

Now maybe some people will enjoy this. I didn't. While Johnson clearly knows his stuff about NASA and the Apollo program, that didn't excuse what I thought was a poorly crafted story, especially since it's clear that Johnson didn't think through who his target audience was going to be.

That's what I think a lot of Christian ficiton suffers from. When I was in the Seminary, one of the things we were told about preaching was that we should always keep our audience in mind. Who is going to hear our sermons? What are they like? How educated are they? How many will be Christian? What sort of temptations will they be going through? That sort of thing.

Johnson apparently believed that his book would be read by non-Christians, hence the lengthy preachy passages about accepting Christ and coming to faith. But really, how many non-Christians do you know who will go and pick up a Christian book out of the blue? The only reason why they would is if it was either recommended to them by a Christian friend or if the book itself generates enough buzz.

In other words, Johnson's main problem was that he was preaching to the choir. I'd be willing to bet that most of the people who pick up his book are already Christians. So the altar call business is wasted space. By and large, his audience will already know that stuff. That's part of the reason why I appreciate Christian novels that understand that their readers are already Christians and try to focus on issues and ideas that Christians might struggle with.

I seem to have gone off on a tangent here. Sorry. To sum up, not a good book. Skip it unless you're really curious.

Coruscant Nights

The other day I was at the library and I spotted these two Star Wars novels on the shelf in the sci-fi section. And I figured, "Why not?" So I left with Jedi Twilight and Street of Shadows.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure what I think of these two books. I suspect that author Michael Reaves was hoping to create a sort of Star Wars noir novel, given the series name and the cover design. And in some ways, he succeeds. Both stories are grimy and dark.

They follow the adventures of Jedi Knight Jax Pavan shortly after Order 66 brought the Jedi crashing down. In the first book, Jax joins the hunt for a missing droid, one that contains information that a group that calls itself Whiplash needs to hurt the Empire. In the second, Jax is contracted to find the killer of a Caamasi artist while dodging a bounty hunter who is bound and determined to capture him.

The books were okay. Reaves did a good job of capturing the feel of what downlevel Coruscant must be like. He creates some new alien species that were interesting to watch. And he pulled in some characters from the Extended Universe and utilized them well.

My one major gripe about these books is that Reaves has fallen prey to a problem that has afflicted many Star Wars authors. He can't capture Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith shows up in both books and I had a hard time believing I was really reading about the Emperor's right hand man. Let me put it to you this way: in the second book, Darth Vader laughs. Twice. It wasn't with joy or amusement, but can you picture Darth Vader laughing? Me neither.

Unfortunately, these books do continue a mental trend for me, a growing dissatisfaction with Star Wars novels in general. I think the reason why is because of how deep and wide the Extended Universe has become.

Allow me to elaborate. I jumped onto the Star Wars novel bandwagon back when Timothy Zahn published the first three novels way back when. Zahn was able to capture my imagination because these were new stories about characters I loved. And those three books were it as far as Star Wars was concerned. Nobody else was telling new stories.

Now look at how things have grown. There are who knows how many dozens of novels, both for adults and children. There are the numerous graphic novels. There are the video games. There are the prequels and the new Clone Wars TV show. In short, there's too much information to keep straight. The Star Wars franchise is beginning to collapse under its own weight.

That's not to say that there aren't faint glimmers of hope. I, for one, have been enjoying the Star Wars Legacy graphic novels, but that's mostly because they're set a hundred years into the future. In other words, everything I know is pretty much gone (with a few minor exceptions). The characters and situations are new yet familiar at the same time.

The same is true for the forays into Star Wars's dense backstory. I had a fun time reading the Darth Bane novel a while back. And the reason why is because, while there were connections with other parts of the EU, it wasn't overwhelming.

So what's the solution? I would almost suggest that Star Wars should lay fallow for a while. Let the fans digest what's out there and wait for a bit more. Let us get hungry again. But then, I doubt George Lucas would ever stumble across this site to take my advice.

Still, a guy can dream, can't he?

The Late Night JengaJam

I've blogged about this before, but it always bears repeating. I listen to one podcast faithfully and religiously, namely The Late Night JengaJam, hosted by the ever incredible J. G. "Jengaship" Edathil and the lovely and talented Lauren (a.k.a. OboeCrazy). He always comes up with the most interesting guests from all walks of life. And tomorrow night, his guest is none other than ... well, me.

This is the second time I've been a guest on the JengaJam. I had a great (if rambling) time. Jengaship invited me on this week to help promote our congregation's podcast, but I'm sure that the topic won't be limited to simply that.

I'd like to invite anyone who passes through my little corner of the Internet to join us tomorrow night, starting at 10:30 PM EST (9:30 CST). Bring your questions, comments, whatever.

There are three ways you can participate, if you so wish:

1) Via the Internet. Tomorrow night, you can head on over to the Talkshoe website, the service that Jengaship uses to both broadcast and record his show. Head on over here and you can log and listen in. You can also participate in the Jengajam chat room, which can be pretty wild sometimes.

2) Via your phone. Talkshoe also allows people to listen in and participate over their phone. All you have to do is call this number: (724) 444-7444. Then enter the show ID number: 6478, #. You can listen in. Jengaship is also pretty good about bringing people into the conversation so they can ask questions.

3) Download it later. While you'll miss out on the fun of the chat room and you won't be able to ask any questions, you can always find the Jengajam on iTunes and download it for future consumption.

And if you need any further reason to listen in, just consider the title that Jengaship has given tomorrow night's episode: "Sermon on the iPod." Sheer awesomeness.

Scarlet

Okay, I seem to have fallen down on the job here. I thought for sure I posted a review of Hood, the first book in the King Raven trilogy, but I must not have. So I guess I have a lot of ground to cover, especially since I finished reading Scarlet, the second book in that trilogy, late last night.

I am not normally a Stephen Lawhead fan. I bought copies of Dream Thief and the Dragon King Trilogy about ten years ago. I disliked the former and thought the latter was simply okay. Then about five years ago, while Jill and I were vacationing in Australia, I grabbed a copy of Patrick in an airport bookstore, read it, and left it Down Under. I didn't care for Lawhead's departures from what we know about the real St. Patrick, nor did I appreciate his sympaethetic portrayal of Pelagius.

So you can imagine my reluctance to try the King Raven trilogy, even after I read some glowing reviews for it. But when I saw Hood in a bargain bin at my local Christian bookstore, I decided to give it a try.

I'm glad I did. Hood and Scarlet have gone a long way towards rehabilitating my opinion of Lawhead. I still question some of his theology, such as the blending of druids with Christianity, but he tells a riveting tale. He resets the Robin Hood stories in eleventh century Wales, making Robin Hood not an English hero, but a Welsh freedom fighter, one called Rhi Bran y Hud, or "King Raven the Enchanter." And he does so with a great deal of wit and excitement.

Scarlet continues the story, focusing on poor ol' William Scatlocke (or Will Scarlet, as he prefers to be called). He's turned out of his home by the Norman invaders and so he sets out to find the outlaw Rhi Bran. After joining Rhi Bran's Grellon, or flock, he finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy against the English crown. Can Will survive, especially after he's captured and sentenced to hang?

Lawhead's voice, especially when he tells us Will's story, is superb. He truly puts us in Will's head and you get a definite feel for his cadence and rhythm. Sadly, the voice falters a bit when we get out of Will's head. There was one scene where it seemed like Lawhead was popping in and out of different points of view with little or no warning.

But it's still a great book and definitely worth the read. Personally, I'm looking forward to Tuck, the final book in the trilogy. Past that, we'll just have to wait and see.

Havah

Hoe. Lee. COW!

I find that my words are woefully inadequate to describe my feelings after reading Havah by Tosca Lee. Simply put, this is one of the finest books I've read in a long time and Lee has become one of my all-time favorite authors.

Where to even begin? I mean, Lee's undertaking is massive, trying to tease out a whole novel in what amounts to three chapters in the Bible. But she pulls it off, injecting a lot of drama, conflict, and beauty to very familiar stories. It may be a cliche, but I can honestly say that I'll never look at the early chapters of Genesis the same way again.

Part of what really hit me is the lyrical quality of Lee's prose. I noticed it when I read Demon: A Memoir but it shines like a diamond in this book. It helped transport me to a very different place when I read it and kept me thoroughly absorbed.

The interactions between the characters were also very believable. Obviously I don't know what it would be like to be created perfect and then lose the Garden, but as I read how the adam and Havah dealt with their new lives outside, I nodded and thought to myself, "Yes, that's how it would be."

Lee makes some interesting dramatic choices in telling Havah's story. There were a few times when it seemed like she departed from the Biblical text, but that actually turned out for the best. Her poetic license was exercised with great care and deliberation and really, I can't fault her for the way she constructed her story. Any time I questioned her choices, I wound up retracting my questions a few chapters later.

To put it bluntly, this is an exquisitely crafted story, one that everyone would do well to pick up and read.

CSFF Blog Tour: Shade Day Three

So how much ambiguity is too much?

Recently my wife and I rented and watched Get Smart. While I found it a hilarious movie, I noticed something pretty interesting. The bad guy didn't monologue. There was never any cut-and-dried explanation as to why he did what he did. There was no great speech detailing the many wrongs he was trying to avenge or set right. He just did what he did and it was up to us to figure out why. I kind of liked that. It was refreshing to have that left in the dark. I certainly have my theory, but I can't say for sure that I'm right. And I'm okay with that.

So why do I bring that up when it comes to Shade? Because the book is chock full of ambiguity. Lots of it. Slathered on. To put it bluntly, I was confused an awful lot in this book. I still don't totally understand what a Mulo is. I'm not sure exactly what the Mulo was trying to accomplish. Maybe I missed it (I seem to recall I finished reading this book late at night; I tend to skim when I get sleepy), but the ambiguity didn't diminish my enjoyment all that much. If anything, it helped me get in the characters' heads a bit more since they were all a bit confused at times too.

Now obviously there has to be continuinty and an overarching explanation of all that happens. If we got John Olson locked in a room, he would be able to tell us exactly what was going on and why. But it's all right to leave readers in the dark every now and then. Or at least, I think it is.

The key, I think, is balance. Isn't that the way it is in everything? Too much ambiguity and the reader will become too frustrated to finish the book. Not enough, and things become too predictable and the readers might get frustrated for other reasons.

So there you go. Have I made myself clear? If not, that's okay too.

Go see what the other tourists are talking about on this, the final day:

Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Joleen Howell
Jason Isbell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Magma
Margaret
Rachel Marks
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
Steve Rice
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: Shade Day Two

I think I should tell you about how I bought my copy of Shade.

I was at the ACFW National Conference this past September. The first thing I did upon arrival was head to the bookstore to see what was available. I had very specific criteria: it had to be weird and/or I had to know the author or at least have heard of them. Emphasis on the former. I found a few interesting books but Shade was not one of them.

Later on, I bumped into John Olson. I told him I was a bit disappointed I couldn't find a copy of his book in the store. He told me that they hadn't arrived yet, that they would be available the next day, but that there were only going to be six copies.

Six?

The next morning, as soon as the opening session was done, I bolted out of the ballroom and made a mad dash to the store. Sure enough, the clerks were setting out the stack of six books. I launched myself into the fray and was one of the lucky few to get a copy. And for the rest of the conference, I could smile smugly as I overheard people complain that they wanted a copy but the store had sold out.

Okay, so maybe I ratcheted up the dramatic tension there a little. I'm a storyteller at heart. But why was I so anxious to get my hands on it?

It all has to do with anticipation. Perhaps I should explain.

Two years earlier, at a different ACFW National Conference, I had the privilege of meeting John Olson for the first time. He taught the speculative fiction track and I shared a meal or two with him. In the midst of chatting, he told us all about a story he had written. A story about vampires. Apparently when one of his friends read the story and then had to sleep with the lights on. He told us about how an agent (he gives the name in his Acknowledgements; consider this another enticement to go and buy the book yourself) told him he wouldn't touch the story with a ten foot pole.

Needless to say, I was intrigued. A Christian vampire story? That strong of a reaction from two different people? I had to see this book for myself. When I saw John Olson mention that Shade was coming out on his Facebook profile, I sent him a message to ask him if it was that book. Sure enough, it was.

I bring this up because I think there's a valuable lesson for us author-types. Buzz can really build your book.

Look at what's happened with The Shack. Here's a book that, for good or ill, has built a lot of buzz around itself. People are sharing this thing with all sorts of different people. The buzz sustains sales, keeps it in the public eye, and garners more readers. Just this past weekend, someone asked me if I had read it yet. I haven't. But I'm planning to just so I can see what the buzz is about.

In a smaller way, that's what happened with Shade and me. I looked forward to getting my hands on the book, not necessarily because I enjoy vampire stories (I didn't enjoy the last one I read all that much) but because I had to see what it was all about. It worked on me.

So how do we generate that buzz for our own books? Darned if I know. This blog tour certainly helps. But beyond that, I can't really say for certain. All we can do is keep plugging away and hope that we strike upon it.

Oh, and one last note. One of the five other hands reaching in to snatch up a copy of Shade at the Conference as the aforementioned friend of John Olson's, the one who slept with his lights on. Needless to say, that brought a smile to my face.

Go and see what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Joleen Howell
Jason Isbell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Magma
Margaret
Rachel Marks
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
Steve Rice
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Just a little bit of unrelated boasting

I know we're in the middle of a blog tour and usually, I try to keep unrelated posts to a minimum during that time. But I just had to share:
At this rate, I may just manage to cross the finish line by the end of the week.

CSFF Blog Tour: Shade Day One

So is Hailey Maniates losing her mind? Or is what hulking homeless man Melchi saying true? Is she being stalked by a Mulo? Or is it all in her head? That's the basic question at the heart of John Olson's latest thriller, Shade.

The story starts out with a bang, with a young Melchi losing his mentor and master to the Mulo. And then we're off and running. Hailey gets attacked by something in her research lab, only to have a fully grown Melchi save her. Soon Hailey is running for her life, unsure of who she can trust or what exactly is happening to her. Melchi seems so sure of himself that an ancient evil is trying to claim her. But can he possibly be right when his stories and theories are so outlandish?

I have to admit, I didn't have a clue what was going on half the time. The backstory of Melchi's beliefs are never fully explained. But that's okay, because the ambiguity works so well with the story. The tension Hailey feels is also pretty believable. She wants to trust Melchi and is instinctively drawn to the gentle giant, but there are so many competing theories for what's happening to her that she can't be sure.

Olson also did a great job of putting the reader into Melchi's strange world. The first time you encounter the full grown Melchi, looking for his lost backpack, he doesn't make a lot of sense. His unique, slightly warped belief system slowly unfolds throughout the book. It's a gradual pace which really helps. It doesn't overwhelm the reader.

My only complaint, and it's minor, is that Olson might have been able to ratchet up the tension a little better. He tries to do so by calling Hailey's experiences into doubt in the early going. Is she suffering from paranoid schizophrenia or was she really almost attacked by some boogey man? But this tension disappears about a third of the way through the book. While Hailey questions what's happening to her, the reader doesn't. Olson tries to restoke those fires toward the end by casting Melchi in a less than positive light. But by that time, we've spent so much time in Melchi's head that it isn't that effective. If Olson had done this earlier, perhaps immediately after Hailey's doubts about her sanity, it might have been a little more effective.

As it is, Olson has put together a thrilling ride through an ancient battle between good and evil, one that brings the reader through harrowing near misses and some great personal salvation.

Go and see what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Joleen Howell
Jason Isbell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Magma
Margaret
Rachel Marks
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
John W. Otte
Steve Rice
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Only Uni

Like I told my adult Bible study this morning, I blame Camy Tang for the fact that I got very little sleep last night. More specifically, I blame her book Only Uni. You know how you get to a point in a book where you just have to keep reading until the very end. I hit that point last night right about the time I should have gone to bed. Thankfully, I made it through the morning without becoming too incoherent.

But this was a great read. I'm not a regular reader of romance, especially not chick-lit (I mean, hello, Y chromosome), but I had heard some very good things about Tang's books and I had to check it out.

I'm really glad I did. This is the story of Trish Sakai. Trish is feeling a bit ashamed of herself after sleeping with her artist ex-boyfriend Kazuo. In a spiritual funk, she reads both 1 and 2 Corinthians and comes up with three rules for herself: #1, no looking. #2, tell more people about Christ. #3, persevere with God's help.

But this isn't going to be easy. Kazuo keeps popping up everywhere she goes. And then there's Spenser, a hunk who she's assigned to work with. But she's determined to make herself better for God and somehow redeem herself from her past.

Tang's story is an interesting journey into Japanese American culture. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and quite a few gut-punchers as well. And there were a couple big twists I didn't see coming until I was right on top of them. That's part of the reason I was up so late last night. In the interest of fairness, I haven't read the first book in the series, namely Sushi for One, but that wasn't a problem. The book stood alone on its own just fine.

I do have one major gripe about the book. Actually, it's not just this one. It's something that popped up in Jerk, California as well. The kicker is, I can't really go into detail here because if I try to explain it at all, I'll be guilty of dropping major spoilers for both books. I can understand that what was said came from the genuineness of the characters. But the message that was delivered (perhaps unintentionally) really upset me and made me kind of angry.

But that should not stop anyone from reading this. I'm probably overreacting to nothing. If you want a delightful, romantic story told with (as Camy's website puts it) "a kick of wasabi," then this is for you. I'm even tempted to go out for a little Single Sashimi.

Jerk, California

You have to feel for Sam Carrier. This highschool senior suffers from Tourette's syndrome, which makes him something of an outcast among his classmates. His step-dad, Old Bill, who has obsessive compulsive disorder, hates him and absolutely dotes on his half-brother. Sam believes he is worthless, the son his true father ran out on before he died. And then he meets a beautiful runner in the rain and everything begins to change.

Jerk, California is the debut novel of Jonathan Friesen and tells Sam's tale.

I wasn't sure how I was going to like this book. Those who have read this blog for a while know that I tend to gravitate toward the fantastic, straying from speculative fiction only if I know and enjoy an author (or if I got the book for free). But I had heard good things about Jerk, California, and so I decided to take a chance.

I'm glad I did. Friesen has a lyrical quality to his prose that drew me into Sam's story and really put me in his shoes. One of the interesting choices that Friesen made was to tell the story in the present tense. It lent an immediacy to what was happening throughout the story as Sam struggles with his condition and tries to learn who he truly is.

Another nice touch was the way Naomi, the perfect running girl, was presented. She drove Sam nuts throughout the book. She did the same to me. I had no idea what she was thinking half the time, and while I had a feeling I knew how the story was going to end, her portrayal seeded enough doubt in my mind that I was pleasantly surprised.

This definitely isn't your typical Christian novel. There's not a lot of preaching to it, no big spiritual decisions reached at any point, and there was a bit of foul language that took me by surprise but didn't ultimately bother me. But there is definitely a redemptive quality to Sam's journey, one that moved me.

So take a chance on a new author and see what it's like to run a mile in the shoes of J ... Sam.

Hero, Second Class

And so now, I have made it through the first list of Marcher Lord Press. Last night, I finished the rollicking tale that is Hero, Second Class by Mitchell Bonds.

This is the one that I was most intrigued by. Jeff Gerke, publisher of Marcher Lord, has been raving about this book for a while, especially since Bonds was only 18 when he submitted this book to Marcher Lord Press. And seeing as I'm a cautious fan of Peter David's books, I was looking forward to a goofy send-up of fantasy tropes.

Bond's book did not disappoint. Right from the first three sentences, I knew that I was in for a goofy story. We have a hero that narrates his fight scenes, guilds that govern the interaction of the Heroes and the Villains, wise-cracking cat people, invisible centaurs, and a plethora of elvish races with their own unique names.

Bonds accomplished what he set out to do in telling this story. It is a great parody of fantasy stories with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. A few jokes fell kind of flat for me, especially the times when Bonds "broke the fourth wall," so to speak. But by and large, I was satisfied with the silliness of the jokes and the way he skewered fantasy conventions.

But I did have a bit of a problem with the theological content of the story. I hesitate to bring that up, but in the interest of fairness, I feel I have to. Simply put, there were times when I thought I was reading a standard fantasy book that just happened to have some Christian thought glopped onto it.

The reason I say that is because of the strange pantheon of gods that's hinted at. In the opening paragraph of the book, Bonds makes a reference to Vertis the Sky god. Other gods are named throughout the story. And in the mix is the Creator, the obvious Christian analogue. I guess my question is, how does the Christian God fit into this pantheon of twelve lesser gods? Are the lesser gods not real? It's not discussed in the book. While this might be addressed in future books (for this is the first book in the Hero Complex series), it left me a little uneasy.

The same is true about the fairly standard use of magic throughout the book. How does that fit into a Christian worldview? Again, this will probably be addressed in future books as well, but it again left me a little worried.

Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. As a matter of fact, I probably am. This is still a solid debut novel full of wit and energy and well worth the investment to read.