CSFF Blog Tour: "Where the Map Ends" Day Three

Last day of the tour! But rather than drone on and on like I've done the past two days, I thought I would point out what's really cool about Where the Map Ends. It's not just a resource for readers or writers of Christian speculative fiction. It's actually a resource for both.

If you're an author of speculative fiction, there are a ton of resources available to you on this website. I've mentioned the insider's look of the publishing world before and the random story generator, but there's a lot more. For example, Jeff Gerke offers writing tips for authors. I'll admit, tips #16-18 depressed me, but they were still good to read.

Jeff also offers a wide variety of editing services, something that I took advantage of a few months ago getting ready for the 2006 ACFW Conference. I appreciated the insightful feedback he gave me and while I didn't take some of his advice at the time (I didn't have enough time to implement it), I will soon.

But what about readers of Christian speculative fiction? What do they get out of this website?

The answer is plenty! For starters there's the extensive book list of speculative novels. I honestly had no idea how much was out there until I found this list. I've got some reading to do apparently.

Jeff also offers monthly interviews with speculative authors that both writers and readers can enjoy. Some of the authors even leave short stories for people to enjoy.

So there you have it. Where the Map Ends is a great site for both producers and consumers of Christian speculative fiction. I know I'll be back many, many times, and I hope you will join me as well.

Be sure to check out what the other tour participants are saying:

Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D.G.D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nicole
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: "Where the Map Ends" Day Two

So here we are on Day Two of our Blog Tour for Where the Map Ends.

Did you go take a look at what the other participants said about the website? I did my best to hit them all and see what was brewing on their blogs. Be sure to stop by both Mir's and Sharon Hinck's blogs as they're running contests in connection with Where the Map Ends. Mir's is pretty spectacular. Also go to Sharon's and Rachel Marks's blogs for interviews with Jeff Gerke, the genius behind the site.

For today's post, I thought I'd touch on one part of Where the Map Ends that is still on the drawing boards, namely Marcher Lord Press. When I first went to the website after it opened, this is the feature that intrigued and excited me the most: a Print-On-Demand publishing company dedicated to Christian speculative fiction!

Now I realize that it may never materialize, but something like this is sorely needed in the Christian publishing industry. It's very difficult for anyone who writes out on the edges of the map to be given a chance in the existing houses. That's not a complaint, really. As Jeff pointed out in his interview with Rachel Marks, it makes good business sense for the existing publishing houses to overlook speculative fiction. Their perception of the Christian market is that no one would read it, so why waste the money on printing books that won't sell?

But I have this feeling that this is a vicious circle and a self-fulfilling prophecy. If they don't believe the books will sell, they don't publish them. Or, if they do, they don't promote them as they should. This means that potential readers get left by the wayside.

Let me give you an example. I mentioned our blog tour on another website I frequent (Red vs. Blue). In this post, I also mentioned a new Christian sci-fi book idea that's been percolating in my brain for the past three or four months. One of my friends on the site, a guy who calls himself Batmantis, got excited. He said he loves sci-fi and he loves Christianity and he'd love to see the two together.

So a light bulb went off in my head. I sent him a link to the book list on Where the Map Ends along with half-a-dozen author recommendations. When he saw it, he wrote back, "I haven't read much 'Christian' fantasy or science fiction apart from the obvious Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Like you have said, it just doesn’t get promoted."

Now think about this. Batmantis was excited at the thought of Christian sci-fi yet he was unaware of what is already out there. We need a place like Marcher Lord Press where Christians can go to find what they hunger for if the mainstream Christian publishers won't provide it.

But as Gene Curtis pointed out in his blog yesterday, Marcher Lord will need money, willing talent, and prayer to get off the ground. I don't know if I can provide much of the first; the amount of the second I have is debatable; but Jeff definitely has the last from me.

Wow, that tirade turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. Two more things and then I'll post the long list of links.

First of all, even if you go check out Where the Map Ends today, make sure you come back on March 1st. Jeff Gerke has mentioned this in every comment I've seen on the blog tour so far, but that's the day when he's starting his speculative fiction collabrative story project. Personally, I'm fascinated by the premise, which he shared in his most recent e-mail newsletter:

On March 1 (3/1/07) I am launching the first-ever WhereTheMapEnds
Collaborative Fiction Project.

In collaborative fiction a group of participants (including you, I hope)
works together to create a story. Anyone can create characters. Anyone can
create settings. Anyone can create plot. And anyone can write the actual scenes
that will become the story.

I've always liked the movie 'Krull,' in which fantasy heroes are attacked by
laser-toting aliens in their spaceships. So that's the kind of story I've
decided we'll tackle together.

Our premise: A medieval fantasy world--with its own problems, histories,
cultures, and cast of characters--is suddenly invaded by technologically
advanced beings from space--who themselves have their own problems, histories,
cultures, and cast of characters.

Now who wouldn't want a piece of that? Whether you like fantasy or science
fiction or cyberpunk or the clash of cultures, there's something here for
you.

I've got the technical framework for the project all set up. I'm using a
forums/message board format, which others have used successfully for projects
like this. I've got all the forums and sub-forums ready to go. All I need is the
people.

I feel like I've been preparing for a party and now everything's ready: the
tables are set up, the punch is mixed, the decorations are up, and the party
favors are on every chair. I can't wait to open the doors on March 1 and let the
party begin.

I hope you'll join the fun. Whether you're a writer, a reader, or just an intrigued bystander (who might BECOME a writer along the way), you're heartily invited.

And speaking of the last e-mail newsletter, he shared a fun little tidbit that I thought I'd pass on to all of you as well. If you've read Jeff's books or visited his website, now you can see him display his acting chops too.

A friend of his submitted an entry to On the Lot, a new reality show kinda like Project Greenlight, only with Steven Spielberg involved. Jeff has a role in his friend's entry, Venusian Beauties. I watched this yesterday afternoon and loved it. I half-expected to see theater seats rise up from the bottom of the screen. That's not an insult, honestly; I suspect that's the effect the director was going for!

Anyway, after you check out Jeff's acting, be sure to check out what the other blog tour participants are offering:

Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D.G.D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Timothy Wise

I suspect that they won't be as long-winded as me.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Where the Map Ends" Day One

It's that time of month again. We, the purveyors of Christian science fiction and fantasy, are banding together to promote our craft and try to bring it to more and more people's attention.

Why would we do this? Well, it's simple. So much of Christian literature is "safe." By that I mean it's grounded in recognizable reality, not that it's free of danger. You don't see many aliens come to visit the denizens of a prairie romance. Dragons don't swoop in to intervene in taut political thrillers. While the characters in these books may go through terrific adventures physically, mentally, and spiritually, those adventures are still infused with a healthy dose of reality. These adventures could conceivably happen to real people.

To put it another way, these adventures take place in the middle of the map, where things have been carefully charted.

That's all well and good; there are people who want to stay in the map's center. But what about those of us who want to go out to the map's edge, to see what's on the frontier in uncharted territory? There are stories out there to tell as well.

As much as I'd like to take credit for what I just wrote, I can't. Not really. I'm paraphrasing what Jeff Gerke, the founder of WhereTheMapEnds.com said here. And (as usually happens when it comes to my writing) he said it better.

This website is simply a God-send for Christian authors of speculative fiction. Jeff Gerke has been on both sides of the publishing world as an author and as an editor. As a matter of fact, he was the shining hope for speculative authors as a sympathetic ear and visionary for what the genre could be.

And now he brings that experience to us. The website is chock-full of information for writers. For example, one of the first things I discovered after the website opened was the extremely detailed article on how a manuscript becomes a book.

Before I read the article, this process was mysterious and dark for me. In a way, I understood it as well as I understand my own digestion system. Manuscript goes in one end, and after a unknown process, a book comes out the other (and please don't push the analogy too far there, even though it may be appropriate for some books). Thanks to Mr. Gerke's insight, I now have a better understanding of how it all works, what with editors, committees, and so on and so forth.

Also fun is the Random Story Generator. This thing is a hoot and a half. I don't know if it'll ever create a story seed that will grow into an actual manuscript, but it's fun to keep hitting the F5 key to see what it comes up with.

But there's a lot more there and I plan on digging through most of it. In the meantime, be sure to visit the other people on the tour:

Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D.G.D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Timothy Wise

Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

So here's the other book I recently finished reading, Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. I'm a sucker for Star Wars novels, what can I say?

The book, set in the ancient history of the Old Republic (well before even the prequels), follows the rise to power of a man named Bane. Bane is recruited by the Sith for training to be a Dark Lord. In the end, Bane winds up reforming the Sith into his own image. I think it's safe to say this much: Bane is the reason why, in the prequels, there can only be two Sith, one master, one apprentice.

All in all, this was a good book. The author, Drew Karpyshyn, was the lead writer for Knights of the Old Republic, one of the best Star Wars video games around. He does a pretty admirable job of showing how the Sith became what we see in the prequels and even bridges the gap between the Knights of the Old Republic and the movies.

My only complaint is this: Bane seemed too tame for my tastes. Sure, he's evil, but he didn't strike me as the kind of evil you'd expect a Dark Lord of the Sith to be. Just a personal taste issue, I guess.

The one thing, though, that floored me was the way that Karpyshyn worked in another Star Wars videogame. I don't want to give away too much; suffice to say that it was a pleasant surprise to see the backstory of another game included in this novel.

So if you're a Star Wars fan, read up. If not, maybe skip this one.

Controversy Creates Ca$h

Would that the title were a typo. Sadly, it is not.

Instead, the title of this blog is the title of Eric Bischoff's book, Controversy Creates Ca$h. Personally I think the dollar sign in the title is unnecessary, but hey, who am I to complain?

I got this book as a gift from my brother-in-law for Christmas because, as I think I've indicated before, I'm a fan of professional wrestling. That's another admission that's kind of hard for me to make. Most people associate professional wrestling with slack-jawed yokels and I'd like to think that I'm anything but.

I became a wrestling fan mostly because of Eric Bischoff. One Monday evening in college, I was flipping through the channels, bored out of my mind, when I came across and episode of Nitro, the WCW's flagship show. I remember spotting Hulk Hogan in a match and I was amazed that Hulk was still wrestling. At the time, I figured he was too old to be wrestling anymore. But I stuck around long enough to catch the end of the show, which ended on some sort of cliffhanger and I figured I might as well come back and see what happened.

This was right before the Monday Night Wars started. A few weeks after I started watching, Scott Hall made his infamous appearance on Nitro and pretty soon, the New World Order (or nWo) was formed.

At the time, I was a bit naive about how it all worked. I knew that wrestling was fake, like everyone, but I wasn't sure how fake it was. I got sucked in by the work of wrestlers like Rey Mysterio and Sting. I wanted to see the nWo taken down. During my years at the Seminary, I couldn't watch the shows, but when I came to Blue Earth, I picked up where I left off.

Just in time to see the WCW bought by Vince McMahon of the WWE.

Since that time, I've made the jump to the big 'E (for better or worse, but that's another story for another day). I've learned a lot more about the business and I'm not quite as naive. But there was one thing that I always wanted to know:

What happened to the WCW? Why did it go under? What led up to the WWE buying them?

For a while, I couldn't get a straight answer. Like most victors, the WWE wrote the history of the Monday Night Wars from their side, painting themselves as the put-upon heroes by a bunch of upstarts. I could pick up bits and pieces from here and there, but for the most part, the WCW's story was never told.

And then Eric Bischoff published his book. Now, I'm no dummy; the fact that this book was financed by the WWE makes me suspect that at least some of it was fed through the WWE-filter. But at the same time, I think Bischoff was remarkably candid about his side of things.

He claims that the WCW going under wasn't his fault (which is the widely believed story that circulates among wrestling fans). Instead, he says that what destroyed WCW was the merger of AOL Time Warner with Turner Broadcasting. This brought in people with no vision, no creativity, and no tolerance for what WCW was doing.

Maybe that's what happened; maybe it isn't. I suspect we'll never get an unbiased version of the Monday Night Wars.

The book itself was both interesting to read and frustrating at the same time. In some ways, it was nice to read Bischoff's side of things and he certainly doesn't seem to hold back in what he thinks. But that's only if he wants to share what he thinks. I got the feeling that there were a lot more stories he could have told but didn't. Worse, there were times when he glossed over stories that should have been told.

Also frustrating were the number of typos in the book. You'd think that a good editor would have caught the multiple misspellings of the last name "Steiner", but apparently not.

The one interesting thing that I gleaned from this actually has to do with writing, believe it or not. Bischoff said that in the beginning of the Monday Night Wars, he had his staff follow a five-letter formula that helped them put together their shows: SARSA, which stands for "Story, Action, Realism, Surprise, and Anticipation." He said that if an idea had all five elements, it could fuel a storyline for two years. If it had four, it could be used for a few pay-per-views. If it had three ... well, you get the idea.

I think that's not a bad thing to keep in mind for writing in any medium. All stories should have the SARSA elements, even if they're set in not-so-realistic places or even if they're an inner-journey through a person's psyche. If you can keep at least four of the elements going in your writing, you should do okay.

So anyway, this was a pretty decent book if you're a wrestling fan. If not, maybe not the book for you.

The Gilmores Have Jumped the Shark?

Okay, painful confession time. I'm a fan of Gilmore Girls.

I know, I know, I know. It's a chick show and I'm a guy! How on earth did I ever get swept up into this show?

It's my wife's fault. She watched this show faithfully before we got married. After we were married, I would vacate the room on Tuesday nights when this came on. But my wife, she gets into her TV shows. She would say things very loudly or laugh or gasp or something and I think at one point I got suckered into going into the living room to see what the big deal was.

It was all downhill from there. Matter of fact, my wife does this to me all the time. That's why I'm a fan of America's Next Top Model and have been known to sit through episodes of Trading Spaces from time to time. But those are stories for another day.

So why did I get hooked on Gilmore Girls? One reason: Amy Sherman-Palladino. Her writing kept me hooked. In the first seasons of the show, the dialogue was extremely fast-paced. More importantly, it was sharp, clever, and filled with references from pop culture, literature, movies, music, and more. In short, you never knew what the Girls were going to say or reference. The stories were intriguing and the denizens of Stars Hollow just goofily endearing enough to keep me coming back.

But sadly, Gilmore Girls has, in my opinion, jumped the shark this season. It's time to let the Gilmores go before their legacy is completely trashed.

Most fans know this already, but Amy Sherman-Palladino left the series at the end of last season (or at least she was supposed to). Perhaps this knowledge has tainted me in regards to this season's episodes, but in my not-so-humble opinion, this season has been just awful.

For starters, the dialogue is too slow. I bet the actors love the fact that they don't have spew words like an auctioneer on crack anymore, but the show has lost some of its zing.

Second, the references aren't there. Oh, sure, they try from time to time, but for the most part, they just aren't there. As a result, the show doesn't seem as witty or smart anymore. It seems like any other drama on TV.

Third, the whole show is wrapped around the Gilmore clan a little too tightly. Sure, it makes sense to follow them since hey, the show is named after them, but part of the fun when Amy was at the helm was seeing the bizarre antics of the denizens of Stars Hollow. I miss Kirk. I miss Taylor. I especially miss Michel, the sharp-tongued concierge of the Dragonfly Inn. And what about the Troubador? He annoyed me in the early seasons, but he's become one of my favorite minor characters. I loved what Amy did with him, especially when she flooded Stars Hollow with would-be troubadors in the last season finale.

To put it bluntly, the show has lost that special magic it had for many seasons. From where I'm sitting, there are two solutions: we either beg Amy Sherman-Palladino to come back and fix this mess, or we let the show retire with what little dignity it can muster.

But hey, what do I know? I'm just some crazy guy who got roped in by his wife.

So Where Have I Been?

I feel kind of guilty right now. I haven't added a post here in more than a month. I even missed the January Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog tour. I haven't posted my rambling thoughts on books I've read or movies I've seen. I've often thought of coming back here and at least tossing a few thoughts on the blog. But I haven't.

Why? It's his fault:

This is my new son, Isaiah. Jill (my wife) and I are currently in the process of adopting him. We've been working with Lutheran Social Services for the past six months or so and just found out in the end of December that we were getting Isaiah, a healthy four month old baby boy.

Well, he's five months now and you can imagine that a childless couple going to parents in less than two weeks can be something of an adjustment. The whole story of how we adopted Isaiah could take a few posts. It's an odd tale of bizarre timing and proof, I think, that God has an odd sense of humor.

At any rate, now that we're beginning to get into the swing of this whole parenting business, maybe I'll be able to come here a little more often. What's coming up? Well, I plan on sharing my thoughts on Gilmore Girls, Controversy Creates Cash, and yes, I'll be back for the February CSFF blog tour.

But I suppose you should also brace yourself for the inevitable posts about my son. He is, in my humble opinion, the cutest kid on the planet.

Eragon: The Movie

Jill and I went out to see Eragon this afternoon and, I hate to admit it, I was disappointed in it. About a month ago, I sat down and read the book and really, really enjoyed it. There were a few times where I got a little stressed over Christopher Paolini's choices, but it was an entertaining book. The movie, sadly, does not live up to the book's potential.

For starters, we have the amount of compression that simply devastated large chunks of the plot. I realize that the book is pretty long, so some condensing had to occur. But some of the choices they made were simply mind-boggling. For example, having Saphira grow to a full fledged dragon in a big flash of light was nonsensical. I liked it better when she grew up gradually. Saphira picking her own name was just plain silly.

The compression also really killed Murtagh and Arya's characterization. I particularly liked the way that Murtagh developed in the book. In the movie, he's nothing more than a generic sidekick with an interesting tidbit of no real consequence in his past.

The same holds true for Arya. Did not like the way her character was portrayed at all.

Like I said, I understand that some compression is needed. But consider this: the running time for the movie was only an hour and forty minutes! They could have easily tacked another twenty onto the movie and drawn some of that stuff out. Given the fact that crowds have sat through lengthy films of great (Lord of the Rings) or dubious (King Kong) quality, this shows sheer laziness on the parts of the directors.

Although I suspect that in a few months, we'll all be encouraged to purchase the "longer cut" DVD with extra footage. I'd like to think that won't be a crass marketing ploy to bilk us out of more money, but I can be cynical like that at times.

The second thing that really, really, really bugged me, however, were a few continuity problems in the movie. For example, in one scene, Eragon goes riding on Saphira and Brom rides along on the ground below. In the opening shots of this sequence, Brom is riding on his horse with no other horses around. At the end of the sequence, though, he's holding the reigns of Eragon's horse. Did he have that horse in his pocket when the scene started?

And then there's this conundrum:


This is a scene right before the climactic final battle. Arya reveals the armor that the Varden have made for Saphira. Take a good look at that faceplate. Looks really cool, right?

Well, apparently some of the extended scenes that will be miraculously restored on the DVD will include one where Saphira refuses to wear the faceplate because it makes her butt look big or something, because in the next scene, when she comes out in her armor, she isn't wearing it. No explanation as to why. Personally, if I was a Varden blacksmith, I'd be more than offended if I had busted my hump to make dragon armor and then it wasn't used.

And as long as we have that picture, let me ask you this: where are Arya's points? The woman's supposed to be an elf, for crying out loud! The book says that her ears are pointy, the movie says she's an elf, so why are the tips of her ears round? I mean, how expensive are pointy ear prosthetics? They could have just gone down to a Star Trek convention and bought a case of Spock ears if they were in a pinch.

And don't get me started on the dwarfs. I realize that Peter Jackson may have spoiled me in the Lord of the Rings trilogy with his digital wizardry, but barring that, couldn't they have just hired really short actors? After Eragon made it to the Varden, I leaned over to Jill and whispered, "Those are dwarfs, by the way." She looked at me like I was crazy.

Needless to say, this whole experience has soured me a little on this movie franchise. I plan on reading Eldest sometime in the near future; but if I'm going to watch it, I'm going to wait to rent it.

The Godfather

No, not the movie (althought it's a great movie). No, not the book (I haven't read it). Instead, I'm speaking of Godfather: The Game. My brother loaned me it at Thanksgiving and I just recently finished it through as far as I'm going to go. More on that in a bit.

All in all, it was a fun game. It was kind of cool to create a mob persona and go on a rampage through the streets of 1940s New York in an attempt to gain control of the city for the Corleone family. Granted, there was violence and language issues, but really, what else would you expect from a game based on The Godfather?

Another fun detail was the fact that your story was interwoven with the story of the movie itself. It's not just witnessing certain events (although there's plenty of that, such as Don Corleone getting shot in the streets or Sonny meeting his untimely demise at the toll booth). You also get to participate in some of the scenes from the movie, such as planting the gun that Michael uses in the restaurant and the baptism massacre from the end of the movie.

It was a little obvious that the game was attempting to be a mid-century version of Grand Theft Auto 3, but it worked pretty well. Games seem to be heading in a very non-linear direction lately, allowing the player to do pretty much whatever he or she wants in the order they want. It was nice to get a mission and know that I didn't have to do it right then, that I could go extort a few businesses or rob a bank if I was pressed for time.

But I do have a few gripes about the game. Two, specifically.

You'll notice that I said I finished it as far as I wanted to. Here's the reason why: the ridiculous requirements to truly finish the game. As near as I can tell, the requirements are as follows:

1. Extort all businesses
2. Seize control of the warehouses and hubs of your competitors
3. Wipe out your rivals among the Five Families
4. Finish all missions
5. Complete all hit contracts
6. Buy all the safe houses in the game
7. Achieve every execution style in the game

Of those seven, I've done the first five. I could probably finish #6 as well. But it's #7 that annoys me. See, there are about two dozen "special" ways to kill a person. The game keeps a list of them all and lets you know when you achieve one (such as shooting a person in the head, killing them by punching them only, that sort of thing. Yes, the game is violent. I said that already). I figured this list was just window dressing; you know, interesting information for bragging rights.

Why did I think this? Because nowhere in the game or the manual does it say that you have to get every execution style to win! It doesn't even explain how to achieve every execution style.

So here I am, thinking that I've almost finished the game. I've extorted all the businesses, I've stolen all of my rival's warehouses and blown up their compounds, finishing their families. I've finished all the missions and made all the hits. And then the game told me about the execution styles.

With all my enemies dead and no more hits to make, what am I supposed to do? Go out and kill random civilians in random ways, hoping that I'll hit upon one of the needed execution styles? No thank you.

And here's my second gripe: this game was obviously developed for consoles like the XBox and Playstation before it became a computer game.

There are telltale signs. For example, the only way to save your game is to go to a safehouse. Some of the moves you're required to perform seem very clunky with a mouse and a keyboard and I suspect were designed to be done with a gamepad (throwing people comes to mind).

But the most annoying give-away is the aiming function. In the game, if you hit the right mouse button, your aiming reticle will lock on to the nearest target. Or at least, what the game thinks is the nearest target. There were several times when I would die in a shoot out because the game kept snapping my targeting reticle to an opponent who wasn't a threat, even though the reticle was closer to my threat. There were even a few times when it would lock onto a civilian and refuse to go anywhere else.

It's no secret that bad console-ports are a PC gamers' bane. And I think I know the reason why this annoys me so much: it reveals how lazy game developers can be.

Think about it this way: if you're taking a game that was originally and only made for a PC to a console, you have to severely rework the controls. The reason why is obvious: a game designed to work with a keyboard and a mouse won't work well with just a gamepad anymore. You have redesign the way it works or else it won't work.

Sadly, the same isn't true when it comes to the reverse situation. Instead of the half-dozen or so buttons, analog stick, and directional controls of a gamepad, you suddenly have close to a hundred keys and a mouse to work with. I think developers just get lazy, do very little PC fine-tuning, and call it good enough.

Unfortunately, I don't see how things will change. I doubt that any game developers will be dropping into my blog anytime soon. If they do, take note, guys, and please do something to change this.

But otherwise, I'm moving on from the Godfather to The Battle For Middle-Earth II. At least this one is for PC only. For now.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" - Day Three

It's our final day on Trackers, a truly excellent book. If you haven't gone out and obtained a copy of it, what are you waiting for? Heck, just click on the link back there and order one from Amazon. I won't be offended. Just make sure you hit the "back" button when you're done and come visit me again.

Anyway, enough silliness. What I thought I would mention today was the excellent website that Kathryn Mackel has put together for The Birthright Project. It's pretty simple, but it has enough bells and whistles on it to really be fun.

What I found interested was the "What Kind of Hero Are You?" quiz. This on-line test asks you a number of questions about your personality and then tells you how you would fit into the Birthright Project. Yesterday it told me that I would be a good Tracker. I'm not exactly sure why it thought so; truth be told, I'd probably make a better Builder.

I also found it interesting that Mackel is offering a "Create a Mog" contest. So much of her books deal with genetically altered animals (or "mogs") that are used as weapons and fortifications (the Wall of Traxx still fascinates me), so she's offering readers a chance to design a mog for the third book in the series. I have an idea for one that I may just submit. Whether I win or not, I'll be looking forward to Scouts, but I'm a little worried given what Shannon McNear wrote today. I hope the rumors aren't true and/or that WestBow changes their mind.

Anyway, go poke around in other people's blogs for a while and see what else they have to say:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear

And one last personal note: according to Blogger, this is my 100th post on this blog. Wow. I thought I had only written half that. But then, I can be a wordy little bugger when I don't intend to be.... Oh well.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" Day Two

So today is the second day of the blog tour for Trackers.

I had originally thought that I would post a review for Outriders, the first book of the Birthright Project series. I nixed that idea because it's been a while since I read it and as quick as I can read books, there's no way I could read it in one evening (and besides, I was almost done with Ender's Game and I didn't want to stop reading that).

Instead, I thought I would touch on something I wrote about the series yesterday. I mentioned that I had a hard time getting into Outriders because of how different the plot was. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that that really is the strength of the Birthright Project series. It's great because it's different!

Let's face it, if you go to a Christian bookstore (or to the Christian section of your local Barnes & Noble, which is what I usually do), the vast majority of the fiction books you'll see can fall into one of four categories: cleaned up romance, mystery/thrillers (including the political thrillers), the historical novels, and the apocalyptic visions of the future. I think this has been discussed before and elsewhere, but the reason there are so many of those four categories is because they're safe. They're predictable.

But to me, they're boring! I'm not big on romances (see my previous posts about the free romance novels I got from the ACFW conference if you doubt me). Mystery/thrillers are okay but not exactly my cup of tea. Historical novels can be fun if the person writing them knows their stuff (ala Paul Maier). And apocalyptic books just annoy me because the vast majority of them are written from a dispensational premillennial slant and I'm a pretty staunch amillennialist.

Anyway, back to my point. Mackel's genius is that her story is so different. It's unlike anything I've read before, which makes it exciting. It's truly speculative, because it's not a "what if a prairie school marm fell in love with a rough-and-tumble ranch hand with a gruff exterior but a secret heart of gold", but a "what if this incredible event happened in the future? What would it look like?"

Actually, as I had these thoughts, I was put in mind of something that E. Stephen Burnett wrote over at Speculative Faith. He's been doing a great series called "The Nine Marks of Widescreen Stories." His fifth installment touches on this subject and he does a far better job of exploring it than I've done here.

So my hope and prayer is that more stories like this come out where we are able to explore fantastic worlds that have never been seen before.

Go check out what other participants are saying. And if you haven't read these books yet, head over to Mirtika or Shannon McNear's blogs. They're giving away free copies of the books.

Here's the list of the other participants:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear

Some Good News For Me

I didn't want to post about this here just yet, but now it would appear to be official, so I'll go ahead...

I have sold my first short story!

It's a fantasy tale called "The Jewel of Creation". I was able to sell it to Leading Edge and it will appear in the April 2007 issue. I'm currently awaiting galleys for the story and I even had to answer some questions for an artist that will be drawing some sort of picture to go with the story.

It's a good first step for me, I think. And, as my friend Mir pointed out, any magazine that publishes Orson Scott Card is all right by me.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" - Day One

So here we are again! It's another month, time for an all new blog tour! This month's tour revolves around the latest book by Kathryn Mackel, Trackers. This is part of The Birthright Project, a really interesting sci-fi series that has thankfully seen print!

Trackers is actually the second book of the series. The first, Outriders, came out a little while ago. I read it before I started reviewing books on my blog, so don't bother going to look for my review (maybe I'll do that tomorrow).

At any rate, I loved reading Trackers. I think I actually enjoyed it more than the first book. The reason for that, simply put, is because Mackel is working with a pretty interesting concept. Her books are basically set in a distant future where humankind has basically really screwed things up badly. The Endless Wars have basically decimated human culture and, as a result, humans have reverted to a more medieval lifestyle. Genetic engineering has become magic as warlords view for control of territory.

But there's a small, intrepid band of young Christians known as the Birthrighters who are struggling to preserve as much of God's creation as possible. It seems that before the Endless Wars spun too far out of control, God instructed His followers to build a second Ark, a high-tech hide-away that's hidden deep under the arctic ice. There the last remnant of Christianity hid for generations before God commanded them to send people up to the surface to gather as much unaltered life as possible and spread the Gospel once again.

It's a unique concept and, I'll admit, I had trouble wrapping my brain around some of it at first (for some reason, my disbelief was refusing to be suspended when Mackel explained in the first book that the Birthrighters could communicate with animals). This time around, though, my disbelief was willingly suspended and I really enjoyed the ride that Mackel took me on.

This is a great, innovative series. I was able to polish off Trackers in a day or two (but then, I'm a voracious reader). If you're looking for a good read, especially a great blend of sci-fi and fantasy, you can't go wrong with the books of The Birthright Project.

But don't just take my word for it. Check out what other people are saying about this book:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear

Casino Royale

As part of my family's Thanksgiving celebration, we went out to see Casino Royale.

I'll admit, I wasn't sure what to expect. I know that the casting of Daniel Craig caused quite a hullaballoo (a blond-haired, blue-eyed Bond? Sacrilege, apparently) and I had heard some good buzz about it before we went.

I have to say, this may be my favorite Bond movie. Now granted, I've only seen the Pierce Brosnan movies, so my experience with Bond is a bit limited, but even still, I found this movie superior to any of the recent ones.

Why? I thought that Craig's portrayal of Bond was a bit more realistic. He was merciless when he had to be and completely shut down emotionally, yet was still able to act human and display a sharp wit when the situation demanded it. This James Bond is more human than the last versions.

Not only that, but I appreciated the retooling of the Bond genre. By "retooling", I mean blasting down to bedrock and starting from the ground up. Gone are the over-the-top gadgets. Gone (thankfully) are the stupid, punny names for the Bond girls (that convention outlasted its welcome with Dr. Christmas Jones and the awful way Bond used her name in a pun. I can't remember how it went exactly, and I'm thankful for that little bit of amnesia). Gone are the insane supervillains trying to take over, if not the whole world, then a significant chunk of it.

Instead, we have a Bond grounded in reality. Like I said, the plot didn't involve stopping some convoluted plan to seize control of the world (which would then be evicerated in certain parodies). Instead, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable problem and, while playing Texas Hold 'Em seems like an odd way to solve it, it made sense.

I suppose when you come right down to it, there are times when franchises need to be restarted, so to speak. They need to be stripped of their out-dated conventions and revamped for the modern age. I know that Marvel and DC comics do that all the time with their heroes; it makes sense to do so with other cultural icons as well.

The trick, I think, is to make sure people understand it's a break from the old and an establishment of the new. If this had been a new entry into the existing Bond canon, it wouldn't have made sense. But if this is a complete rebooting of Bond, then it worked perfectly well. You just have to make sure you're doing a rebooting and not a prequel, or else any changes you make to the canon will be very, very bad.

Case in point.

Fragile Things

Early, early this morning I finished reading Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. It's another collection of Gaiman's short stories and poetry and, as always, it left me feeling a little jealous. This man has undeniable talent when it comes to writing. It's little wonder that he continues to hop onto the bestseller lists; if anyone deserves to be there, it's Gaiman.

That isn't to say that everything Gaiman did was perfect. His take on the Chronicles of Narnia, The Problem of Susan, ticked me off to no end. I saw the ending coming in How to Talk to Girls at Parties. There were a few stories and poems that left me scratching my head.

But by and large, Gaiman is a mster of his craft. I loved A Study in Emerald. Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire, while a finger-twisting title, really made me laugh out loud. Seeing as I majored in theatre in college and for a senior year project directed a play based in commedia dell'arte, I felt right at home reading Harlequin Valentine. And The Monarch of the Glen was a worth addition to the American Gods canon.

But the biggest surprise was, by far, Goliath.

If you've read Gaiman's collections of short stories, you know that he always has notes about the stories in his introduction. He explains his inspiration, that sort of thing. After reading Smoke and Mirrors, I decided that in the future, I would avoid reading those notes until after I've read the story. There were a few cases where the notes ruined the ending for me and I wanted to avoid that this time around.

Anyway, I read Goliath with a certain amount of frustration. It was clear that Gaiman was ripping off a very popular movie (or so I thought) and I wondered how he could have done such a thing. Then I went back and read the notes and realized that he didn't actually rip off said movie; instead, he was asked to write a short story for said movie's website.

That's all I'm going to say. Read the short story yourself to see which one it is. You'll figure it out within the first page or so.

Anyway, good read, as always when it comes to Gaiman. I may not always appreciate his philosophy (and definitely not his theology), but he always gives me something to think about and shows me how woefully inadequate my own writing is.

Musings on NaNoWriMo

So earlier this morning, I crossed the 40,000 word mark on my NaNoWriMo novel. That felt pretty good, so I thought I'd stop and share some thoughts about this whole experience.

I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to sell this book or not. It's a convoluted mess right now. I've already mentally highlighted half a dozen places I'll need to go back and shore up. Or I may just have to put the perfect finishing touch to this story when I'm done. Namely a match.

At the same time, though, I've learned some things about myself and my writing:

1) I needed the structure and the deadline. I've been very lacksadaisical about my writing for the past year. I'd type in a few words every now and then if I felt like it and usually, I found myself playing World of Warcraft or some other computer game rather than writing. But now, thanks to NaNoWriMo, I've been forcing myself to get up earlier and start the day by writing at least 1,500 words. It's a good discipline that I'm hoping to carry past just this one month.

2) I really, really, really need help on crafting good characters. One of the critiques that I got regarding The Leader's Song was that I needed stronger characters. Writing this novel has made me realize how true that is. I bought a book recently that hopefully will help, but if anyone has any ideas on how a plot-oriented writer like me can learn how to make fresh and vivid characters, please let me know!

You know, I know I learned more than that. Huh. Oh well. At any rate, even with taking two (maybe three) days off for Thanksgiving, I should be able to hit the finish line by the end of the month. I don't think the book will be done yet, but at least I've benefited from this experience.

Happy Feet

Last night Jill and I went to see the CGI movie "Happy Feet" and, I have to say, I was impressed ... sort of.

To be honest, the only reason I wanted to go was to see the rapping baby penguin from the commercials. I knew that bit would take all of half a second (and I was right), but I was pleasantly surprised.

For starters, we have the music. I can't imagine how much the producers must have spent to get the various licenses for all of that music. It was woven through the plot pretty well and often had Jill and I doubled over with laughter, simply because we couldn't believe what they came up with next. Just to give you an idea: in the first minute or so of the film, you'll hear a penguin imitating Marilyn Monroe singing Prince's "Kiss". Not what I expected in a kid's movie at all, but it made me sit up and take notice.

The vocal talent was top notch. Very well done. If I didn't know that it was Hugh Jackman playing Memphis, I would have never guessed. And Robin Williams did a pretty good job as Ramon (although I question the intelligence of the writers making the shorter penguins all Latino stereotypes).

The only problem I had with the movie was the rather bizarre plot. If you've read anything about the movie, you know that the plot basically boils down to this: most penguins sing to find their mates, but one penguin named Mumbles is unable to sing. Instead, Mumbles can dance, but that's discouraged as being "unpenguin". So on the surface, the plot is typical children's movie: be yourself in spite of what others say, yada yada yada.

But then there's a rather odd subplot (or main plot, I really couldn't tell) tacked on about aliens. Yes, you read that right. Aliens. It was pretty funny when it was introduced but as this plot becomes more and more important, things just become stranger and stranger. The last twenty minutes of the movie just didn't feel right to me. It had a deus ex machina feel to it.

I think the problem is that the writers wanted the audiences to think about a serious issue at a children's movie and so they tacked on the serious message at the end of the plot and then bludgeoned us over the head with it repeatedly. It kind of detracted a little.

But overall, not a bad movie and if you're planning on going, I wouldn't stop. Just be ready to stare disbelieving at the screen because of the music.

CSFF Blog Tour: R. K. Mortenson's Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum - Day Three

Okay, so today I'm going to need to offer a cop-out. As much as I wanted to do this up right, sadly, this month's tour is something of a flop for me. I suggest that instead of hanging out here, go check out what the others have written about Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum. Perhaps next month, I can do a better job.

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver

CSFF Blog Tour: R. K. Mortenson's Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum

Good grief, is it blog tour time again already? The days just sneak past you, y'know?

This month's tour is centered around R. K. Mortenson's Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum. Sadly, I have not read this book and I doubt I could locate a copy of it before the end of the tour on Wednesday. So I'll offer this as a cop-out. Ain't this a nice cover?

Okay, so that's a lousy cop-out. Be sure to visit the other participants. I'm sure they'll have done their homework.

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver

Fallen from Babel

This is sort of momentous for me. This review marks the last book that I brought back from Dallas and the ACFW Conference. 'Course, that doesn't mean that I won't be reviewing books anymore. I have since spent a bit of money to create a whole new stack of books to read. And my lovely wife brought home Neil Gaiman's latest collection of short stories because she heard me mention once that I like his writing. I have a good wife.

Anyway, all that aside, earlier this afternoon I finished reading T. L. Higley's Fallen from Babel. In this gripping story of time travel, Professor Peter Thornton finds himself transported from 21st Century Boston to ancient Babylon during the time of the Jewish exile. He finds himself inhabiting the body of a priest named Rim-Sin and finds himself interacting with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Higley does a marvelous job bringing ancient Babylon to life. There were many times where I was tempted to stop reading and do some digging into Babylonian culture myself, not because I wanted to check facts, but because it piqued my interest.

Higley also constructed her story that it kept me reading and kept me surprised. I was never sure exactly what was going to happen and there was one point where I definitely did not see a twist coming. It felt really, really good to be utterly surprised.

My one minor complaint is something that sometimes pops up in Christian fiction, and that's what I would call the "leap of spiritual maturity" problem. To put it as vaguely as I can without giving anything away, sometimes in Christian fiction, new converts are somehow given an extraordinary amount of spiritual maturity right out of the box, which often strikes me as a little untrue. This happens at the end of this book; I'll let you see if you can figure out what I'm talking about.

But this is still a fantastic book and I'm looking forward to reading more.