CSFF Blog Tour: The Begotten Day Three

I've certainly taken the long way around to get to today's review of The Begotten by Lisa T. Bergen. So here we go.

The story, as I've said, revolves around one of the lost letters Paul wrote to the Corinthians. In Bergen's story, this letter sounds almost apocalyptic in nature, predicting the coming of "the Gifted," a group of individuals with spectacular spiritual gifts. But because the only copy was illuminated (i.e. illustrated), it was condemned by the iconoclasts in the eighth century.

Fast forward to the fourteenth century. Father Piero, a Catholic priest, believes the time has come. The Gifted are gathering. Lady Daria d'Angelo. Sir Gianni de Capezzana. Hasani. Each are showing incredible abilities. What purpose does God have for these Gifted individuals?

But there are dangers within and without of the Church. How will the Church react as their talents become more obvious? And what about the Sorceror? What designs does he have on the Gifted?

Bergen's story is engaging and engrossing. It's exciting to boot. I want to make this absolutely clear: I enjoyed reading this book a lot.

And yet...

Once I had finished reading it, I felt a bit dissatisfied, not for any artistic reasons but for theological reasons. If you haven't read the book, might want to leave now. Spoilers and whatnot.

For starters, we have the fact that Bergen describes "true" 1 Corinthians as a prophetic book (although, truth be told, it sounds like it's more of an apocalyptic book and yes, there is a difference), one dedicated to the predictions regarding the Gifted and their coming trials.

But this doesn't really seem to jive with what we know of "true" 1 Corinthians. Like I said two days ago, Paul gives us a little peek at the contents in 1 Corinthians 5:9, where he warns the Corinthians against sexual immorality.

If, as Bergen posits, the book is apocalyptic/prophetic, then such practical advice would stick out and be out of place.

Second, Paul doesn't seem to be all that big on apocalyptic stuff. For example, in 1 Corinthians 14:19, he says "I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand in a tongue." Now granted, he is speaking about the gift of tongues here (obviously), but I think the principle applies to apocalyptic visions as well. Why would Paul, who seemed very practical, resort to mystical visions in a letter and then, in its sequel, decry it?

2 Corinthians 12 also would seem to argue against the first letter being apocalyptic. Paul says that he knows "a person in Christ" who was caught up to the third heaven. Based on 2 Corinthians 12:7, most Biblical scholars think that this "person in Christ" who was caught up to the third heaven was Paul himself.

But notice what Paul does. Rather than boast about his vision (or even give a hint as to what he saw), he said he'd rather boast about his weakness and his mysterious "thorn in the flesh." It seems out of character, given those two passages, for Paul to engage in mystical visions and record them. In my mind, it'd be more likely he'd keep them private.

My second problem with the book is with the concept of the Gifted themselves. It seems to fly in the face of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul seems to warn them off of the idea of "super gifts." Instead, he seems to say that all gifts are equally important. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but the idea of these superior gifts being given to a select few doesn't seem to match up with Paul's message.

And finally, we have the way the Gifted behave doesn't strike me as real. It almost feels like a group of non-denominational Americans somehow got transported back into 14th century Italy. Bergen did an admirable job of bringing the era alive (although I did have to look up what "handfasting" was); it just seemed odd that a group of 14th century Roman Catholics would abandon almost all the trappings of their worship.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the book. But much of it rang very wrong to me and it kept me from truly loving it.

But that's just my opinion. Go check out what the others are saying:

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Pamela Morrisson
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: The Begotten Day Two

Yesterday I did a Corinthians chronology. Today, in connection to Lisa T. Bergen's book The Begotten, I thought I'd talk about how the New Testament canon was put together.

There's a lot of misconceptions that a specific church council or singular individual put together the New Testament (the most egregious is that contained within The DaVinci Code, which states it was the Emperor Constantine who twisted Scripture to his own nefarious purpose). This simply isn't true.

Starting in the second century, the Church started disucssing which books belonged in the canon. Just so everyone is on the same page, "canon" comes from the Greek word kanon, which refers to a measuring stick. The question of the canon is this: which books measure up? Which were in? Which were out?

This discussion was prompted by a number of internal problems. For starters, you had the gnostic Christians who produced their own scriptures, none of which were in line with the orthodox faith. Also problematic was the work of Marcion, a man from Rome who had his own ideas about Christianity. He saw Paul as the best (and only true) of the apostles. The rest had been corrupted by their Jewish roots. Marcion believed that Christianity was a radical break from Judaism. For that reason, Marcion picked and choosed which books he liked. Gone was the entire Old Testament. Gone were three of the Gospels, leaving only a heavily edited version of Luke. Gone were all of the other books save Paul's letters.

In the light of the mounting problem, the Church began a lengthy discussion about which books were being used where. Church leaders wrote to each other and compared lists. In the early days, there were a few extra books included, such as The Shepherd of Hermas and The Didache, but these were eventually dismissed.

By the time of Constantine, the process was pretty much over. There were a few question marks (people weren't sure if books like 2 Peter, Jude, James, or 2 & 3 John belonged in). By the time of the Council of Carthage, in 397 AD, the discussion had pretty much petered out and the Council said the matter was closed.

So the question is, what criteria did the early church use in sorting through the books?

Well, that's the thing. They are never explicitly stated. But working backwards, there seemed to be four criteria used:

1) Apostolic origin - The book had to have been produced by either an apostle (i.e. Matthew, John, Peter, or Paul) or an "honorary" apostle (i.e. Mark, Luke, James, Jude), someone who has a close connection to an apostle.

This is why some of the books were excluded. For example, The Shepherd of Hermas and The Didache were both fine books and the early church fathers encouraged people to use them as devotional reading. But because neither were produced by apostles, they were excluded.

2) Orthodoxy - This is the main reason why many of the books got excluded, especially the ones produced by the gnostics. While these books claimed to be written by the apostles, their heretical content got them nixed.

A good case in point: there was a "Gospel of Peter" that floated around and was quite popular, even to the point where it was read in worship. But then a bishop named Serapion realized that it contained docetic beliefs. The Gospel lost its popularity after that and was no longer used.

3) Universal acceptance - Simply put, the whole church (or at least a vast majority) had to accept the book and use it.

4) Usefulness for the Church as a whole - A book had to be useful to everyone to be included. For example, we could have Paul's laundry list. It's written by Paul, there's nothing heretical in it, and everyone accepts it. Well, it probably wouldn't make it in because, really, what good would it be aside from a historical curiousity?

The reason I bring this up in connection with The Begotten is because of Bergen's main premise, that "true" 1 Corinthians somehow wasn't included in the New Testament canon and only one copy survived.

Could it have happened? Possibly. The fact that we don't have "true" 1 Corinthians and the "Letter of Tears" shows that Paul's writing could be and were lost. And it's certainly understandable that the Church would have problems with it if it surfaced again.

Tomorrow's the last day and I'll talk about the plot of the book since I've taken such a long time to lead up to it. In the meantime, go check out what other people are saying.

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Pamela Morrisson
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: The Begotten Day One

This month, we're looking at The Begotten by Lisa T. Bergen. It's an interesting speculative historical piece centered around one of the lost books to the Corinthians.

What's that you say? You didn't know that there were lost books to the Corinthians? Why yes, it's true.

It's actually interesting that we're doing this book this month because I'm in the midst of a marathon Bible study series with my congregation on 1 & 2 Corinthians, so this subject is fresh in my mind. Since I always aim to have unique material in this blog tour, let's talk about the chronology of the Corinthian letters. How do the books we call 1 & 2 Corinthians fit into the scheme of things?

Before I begin, I should mention that a lot of this is built on speculation. To put it bluntly, this is educated guesswork. With that final caveat, let's begin:

1) Paul writes "true" 1 Corinthians - We know from 1 Corinthians 5:9 that Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian Christians before the one we call 1 Corinthians. Apparently in "true" 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote about associating with sexually immoral people. Sadly, this letter is lost to the ages.

Or is it? Some Biblical scholars believe that a fragment of it survives, in all places, within 2 Corinthians. Some Biblical scholars believe that 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 is a piece of the lost first letter. It certainly matches the theme that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 5:9, focusing on not being unequally yoked with unbelievers. Not only that, but this portion of 2 Corinthians sticks out like a sore thumb. Try reading 2 Corinthians 6:11-13, skip over 6:14-7:1, and pick up again at 7:2-4. It flows together, doesn't it?

Is it possible? Sure. The first collection of Paul's letters isn't mentioned until the 90s (obviously not the 1990s, the just-plain 90s). A lot could happen in the forty years between the time the letters were written and when they were collected. A bit of the lost letter could have been tucked into the text of 2 Corinthians and some dutiful copiest wound up merging it all together.

Does this change whether or not 2 Corinthians is the inspired Word of God? Of course not. But it certainly is interesting.

2) The Corinthians send Paul a return letter. From the way Paul lays out the early chapters of 1 Corinthians that the Corinthians sent him some questions that they wanted answered. Along with this letter came reports that the Corinthians were a fractured, fighting church, one in need of some correction.

3) Paul writes our 1 Corinthians. In response to these questions, Paul writes the letter we call 1 Corinthians. In it, he deals with such diverse topics as factionalism within the church, lawsuits among believers, sexual relationships and marriage, food sacrificed to idols, spiritual gifts, and the resurrection of the dead.

4) The arrival of the pseudo-Judaizers. This is my name for this bunch and it may not have even happened. But based on the tone of 2 Corinthians and some of its content, it's possible that a group of people showed up in Corinth who denigrated Paul's ministry and questioned his identity, calling, and integrity as an apostle. I call them the "pseudo-Judaizers" because they sound similar to the group Paul describes in Galatians but apparently without the circumcision obsession.

5) Paul's bad visit. Based on what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, it sounds as though Paul took a swing through the region of Achaia. He may have originally planned on visiting Corinth twice, but the first visit did not go well. We don't know exactly what happened; Acts doesn't mention this trip and Paul doesn't go into great detail (which makes sense; he was there, the Corinthians were there, why tell them what they already know?). We do know that things did not go well, so badly that Paul canceled his second visit, leading his opponents to question whether or not Paul's word could be trusted. See 2 Corinthians 1:15-2:2.

6) Paul writes the "Letter of Tears." Like "true" 1 Corinthians, we don't have a copy of this letter. Probably. But I'll get to that in a little bit. At any rate, Paul writes a third letter to the Corinthians, a painful letter that Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 2:3-4.

But is the "Letter of Tears" really lost? Some Biblical scholars don't think so. Again, they believe that a good chunk of it is preserved in 2 Corinthians, namely chapters 10-13.

That makes sense, if you think about it. If Paul's credibility was attacked by his opponents during his "bad visit," he'd want to defend himself. And since 2 Corinthians 10-13 is a defense of his apostolic ministry, it fits. Again, the letter could have been misplaced and copied into what we call 2 Corinthians and again, this doesn't change whether or not it's God's Word.

At any rate, Paul apparently sent this letter off with his partner, Titus, and then settled in to wait.

7) Paul goes looking for Titus. But apparently Paul couldn't just wait. Even though he was in the fertile mission field of Troas, he couldn't focus on the task at hand. He went out to find Titus and find out what happened in Corinth. (2 Corinthians 2:12-13)

Much to his joy, he found Titus with an excellent report. The "Letter of Tears" cut the Corinthians to the quick. They wanted to be reconciled with Paul.

8) Paul writes 2 Corinthians. In response to this good news, Paul sends them a fourth letter, the one we call 2 Corinthians. In it, he thanks God for the Corinthians new attitude and gives them instructions about the collection he's taking for the mother church in Jerusalem.

There you go. The book we call 1 Corinthians is really 2 Corinthians. What we call 2 Corinthians should really be called 4 Corinthians. The missing books might be contained in 2 Corinthians (or might not be).

So what does this have to do with The Begotten?

Bergen's story centers around "true" 1 Corinthians, the missing first letter. She posits that in this letter, Paul prophesies about a group called "the Gifted," people with phenomenal spiritual gifts that will come forth at a certain time to do God's will. Apparently only one copy of the letter survived and it was nearly destroyed during the work of the iconoclasts.

An interesting concept, one that we'll look at further tomorrow. Kind of. With a minor digression.

In the meantime, go check out what other people are saying:

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Pamela Morrisson
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

ACFW Genesis Contest

As CSFF Blog Tour Overlord Rebecca Luella Miller said in a comment in my half-baked eulogy for GFW Magazine, I do have some pretty good news.

I'm a finalist in the 2008 ACFW Genesis contest. I and five other people made it into the finals for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory category.

I was a bit shocked. I knew there were quite a few entrants (I forget the exact number right now) and I figured I didn't have a chance. I'm not complaining. The first round judges had some very complimentary things to say (one in particular) and so now I need to finish polishing it up and send it off for the next round.

Sadly, I won't find out how I do until September when the ACFW Conference comes to Minnesota, but my wife and I have already found a babysitter so we can be at the banquet. I doubt I'll win, but it'll certainly be fun to find out.

R.I.P. GFW

One of the magazines I've enjoyed for the past several years was Computer Gaming World, which was recently rechristened Games For Windows. I loved getting it every month. The reviews were always helpful, the articles insightful and thought provoking. I've even become a regular listener to their (almost) weekly podcast, even though I can't condone half of the things they say every week.

So you can imagine my distress when I learned tonight that Games for Windows has folded. This really stinks. This is the magazine that clued me in to such gems as Psychonauts and warned me off of such half-baked stinkers such as Evil Genius). I looked forward to each issue as it helped me learn more about a favorite past-time of mine. It's where I first learned of Spore and is the reason why I bought Bioshock and The Orange Box (although I do need to upgrade my computer to play the former).

The sad thing is that while Jeff Green bravely predicts this has a silver lining, I'm not sure it does for me. I'm not that much of an on-line denizen apart from Roosterteeth.com. I preferred getting my gaming news via snail mail. It meant I could enjoy it at my own pace in a comfy chair. I'm not sure I'll make the jump to 1UP.com.

So I guess this is good-bye, GFW. I wish it could have ended some other way.

Spore Delayed Again!

I can hardly believe it! According to this press release from Maxis, the videogame Spore is going to be delayed for another six months! This kind of yo-yo, on again, off again release date nonsense has got to stop and it has to stop now. They've delayed this product so many times it's not even funny anymore.

CSFF Blog Tour: OEDSD Day Three

So I fell down on the job yesterday. I didn't post anything about On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson. My bad. I really didn't have anything to add about it. That shouldn't be taken as any sort of indictment against the book. It's more an indication that I've been fried for the past week what with a head cold, Holy Week, and a son who learned the joys of projectile vomiting yesterday.

But I'm back today with the following: in the spirit of the silliness of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, I offer my top five list of the biggest jokes in the Bible:

5) Jacob's Limp - One of the unfortunate things about translations is that you often lose the flavor of the Biblical text in question. For example, many of the Old Testament writers enjoyed jokes and play on words. Nowhere is this more evident than in Genesis 32:22-32, the story of Jacob wrestling with God.

For those of you who don't remember it, Jacob is scared out of his mind because he'll have to face Esau, the brother he ripped off not just once, but twice. He stays up all night and winds up wrestling with God. God even cheats by wrenching Jacob's hip out of joint but Jacob won't let Him go until He blesses him. And so God changes Jacob's name to Israel and we're told that he limped away.

So why is this a joke? Because "Jacob" means "crooked" and "Israel" can mean "straight" (among other things). So when Jacob was crooked he walked straight. When Jacob became "straight" he walked crooked.

Here's the thing about Hebrew word-jokes: they're never funny.

4) Isaiah's son's name - In a related vein, names in the Old Testament are rife for humor as well. They always describe the circumstances of the child's birth or the individual's character. A few quick examples: Isaac means "he laughs" (very appropriate, given how both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the idea of being parents). Joseph means, in essence, "give me another!" This reflects Rachel's desire for a second son fairly well, don't you think? Elijah, the prophet who went toe-to-toe with the priests of Baal and won, means "The Lord is God," a good summary of his ministry.

But then there's Isaiah's son. I sympathize with him because his name was an object lesson for the people of Israel.

I'm a pastor's kid and I remember how embarrassing it was when my dad used me as a sermon illustration. But at least my embarrassment was temporary. Isaiah's kid had to live with it his whole life.

What am I talking about? In Isaiah 8:1-4, God instructs Isaiah to name his son "Maher-shalal-hash-baz," for "Before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria." It turns out that "Maher-shalal-hash-baz" means "quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil."

Poor guy!

3) Ehud the Left-Handed Judge - This has been one of my favorite stories for a long time. I was first told it in the fifth grade by my mother in, of all things, a mid-week Bible class, because she wanted to show us that the Bible had some wild stories in it.

If you're not familiar with this one, it's in Judges 3:12-30. Basically Ehud was raised up to fight the Moabites and the way he did it was ... rather unique.

Since Ehud was left handed, he strapped a foot-and-a-half long sword to his right thigh. He then visited King Eglon of Moab to deliver Israel's tribute. Eglon's guards, apparently assuming that Ehud was right handed, only checked his left thigh for weapons.

Crack security staff, no?

Ehud then told Eglon he had "a message from God" for him. As soon as Eglon ordered his advisors out, Ehud drew his sword and stabbed Eglon. The Moabite king, it turns out, was so fat that Ehud lost his sword in him. Ehud left and locked the door behind him.

Eglon's servants, upon discovering that the doors were locked, jumped to the conclusion that Eglon was in the bathroom. Because you apparently don't interrupt the Moabite king's "private time," Ehud was able to escape and rally the troops to fight the Moabites.

Dead serious. Everything I just said is in the Bible. Look it up for yourself.

2) Paul's hyperbolic statement regarding the Judaizers - The Old Testament isn't the only place to find humor. This one's really brief but always makes me chuckle.

In the book of Galatians, Paul has to deal with a group we call the "Judaizers." The Judaizers were Jewish Christians who believed that before Gentiles could become Christian, they had to first become good Jews. That included getting circumcized. So they went out and preached their version of the Gospel, encouraging Gentile Christians to ... well, go under the knife.

Needless to say, Paul was not happy with this development, especially since some of the Galatian Christians fell for it. He railed against them for falling back under the Law when they were free. But he saved the coup de grace for Galatians 5:12, where he basically says that he wishes the Judaizers would just finish the job and emasculate themselves.

That's right, Paul isn't too scared to work blue!

That brings us to the #1 joke in the Bible, the one that always makes me laugh:

1) The Empty Tomb - Let's face it, this is the biggest joke in the Bible, bar none. But before anyone surfs away in a rage because I'm a heretic, let me explain. It's not that the joke is on us, it's that the joke is on sin, death, and the devil.

Because if you think about it, that unholy Trinity probably thought they had won on Good Friday when Jesus died. They thought they had killed God's Son and defeated Him. They likely were ready to dance on His grave. But then, on Easter Sunday, Jesus rose and showed that the joke was on them. They had really lost and now, as St. Paul joyfully declares in 1 Corinthians 15:57 - "He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

So we can laugh with joy because He is risen!

There you go. Next month, come back for a rather interesting historical fiction book, one that I'm in the middle of reading. I may have a bit to say about it, maybe I won't. We'll just have to see.

In the meantime, go check out what other people are saying:

Sally Apokedak
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Green
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Michael Heald
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Margaret
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Pamela Morrisson
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Cheryl Russel
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Jason Waguespac
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness Day One

This month we take a look at the tongue-twistingly entitled On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson.

I have to be honest, when I first read the title on the blog tour schedule, I had a sinking feeling about it. It seemed so redundant that I was a bit worried I was in for a stinker.

When I received my copy, I looked it over and the sinking feeling grew. I remember thinking The only way this title would work is if this is supposed to be a silly book.

So I cracked open the book to the first page: "A Brief Introduction to the World of Aerwiar." Reading how this mythical land received its name made me chuckle.

Moving on to the next section: "A Slightly Less Brief Introduction to the Land of Skree." That seemed a little weird and made me smile even more as I read about the geography of Skree and then its history.

Tucking that under my belt, I turned the page to discover: "An Introduction to the Igiby Cottage (Very Brief)." And as Peterson explained how the Igibys were all miserable in spite of the fact that they listened to wild tales from their grandfather, who enjoyed to smoke his pipe and so on, I felt much better about the title.

For this is, indeed, a very silly book.

That is by no means a complaint. Instead, it made the book extremely enjoyable. The story follows the three Igiby children, Janner, Tink, and Leeli, as they are caught up in a crazy adventure, pitting them against the dreaded Fangs of Dang, the minions of Gnag the Nameless (a delightful oxymoron if I ever saw one).

The story itself kept moving as the Igibys find themselves tumbling from one crisis to another, trying to figure out who they are and why the Fangs are so interested in their family. What connection do they have with long-destroyed Anniera? The humor definitely kept the plot moving and made for a fun read.

I only had two gripes about the book. First was the fact that I saw the "twist" coming about a hundred pages in. I don't want to go into too much detail lest I give it all away. Since this book seems to be geared for kids, though, that's understandable and acceptable.

Second were the footnotes. Peterson included notes about culture, history, songs, and other such matters all throughout the text. These notes, so far as I could tell, had little or nothing to do with the actual story. Perhaps they were intended as a humorous way to increase immersion, but they distracted me from the story. That's probably just me, but it did bug me.

But it's still a fun, quick read and sure to be a great story to share with your kids.

Be sure to check out what the others are saying on the tour:

Sally Apokedak
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Green
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Michael Heald
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Margaret
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Pamela Morrisson
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Cheryl Russel
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Jason Waguespac
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Venus Needs Men

I always enjoy a bizarre board game. The more pieces, the more complex the rules, the better. I could probably do a whole month's worth of posts on some of my favorites, but tonight, I got to try a new one, namely Venus Needs Men. If you like '50s sci-fi, this is a game that you should enjoy.

The premise is simple: the players take charge of an alien race (Venusians, Martians, Plutonians, the denizens of Ganymede or Titan). You can also be in charge of Earth's defenses. If you're one of the alien races, your goal is to build spaceships, fly them to earth, and abduct as many humans as you can while fighting off your opponents. If you're the Earthlings, you're out to protect as many of your people as you can.

Jill and I bought this for her brother for his birthday a few months back (he likes complex games as well) and we had the chance to break it out tonight.

There are two sets of rules for the game, the "basic" and "enhanced." Tonight we tried out the basic rules. You can basically build new ships, move them, land them, abduct humans, and then head home with your prizes. If you happened to wind up near your opponents, you could attack them as well.

The Zap cards added some extra fun. These could be used to force opponents to skip turns, destroy their ships, or otherwise mess with them. It helped break up the simple play. Oftentimes we found ourselves pushing the little plastic ships around on the board and picking up the little "population chips."

While we didn't try the enhanced rules this time, we will in the future. It appears to add a layer of strategy to it as it tosses in special abilities (such as the Martian ability to take control of opponent's ships or the Titans' ability to infect humans) and technology upgrade cards.

There were a few drawbacks to the game, namely some holes in the rules. For example, there was some initial confusion regarding combat. The "quick reference" cards were vague enough that we weren't sure what constituted a successful attack. The rules did clarify things. We were also unsure what happened to abducted humans if the ship they were on was destroyed.

So if you like kitschy sci-fi, this game is probably for you. And if you do play it, you probably will want to skip right to the enhanced rules.

The Return of Jezebel James

Amy Sherman-Palladino, shame on you!

I guess it's just one of those nights. First it's Temple of Doom, now it's The Return of Jezebel James. What the heck was she thinking? The speed talking of Gilmore Girls, but with none of the wit and a laugh track that makes me want to smash my head against a wall.

And Parker Posey? Annoying as all get out.

And as long as we're handing out shame, Scott Cohen needs a heaping helping as well. He deserves better than this. Mr. Medina, no!

With any luck, this trainwreck will be over soon and Sherman-Palladino can find a better idea.

Temple of Doom

So here's an odd tidbit about myself. I never watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

When I was a child, my parents forbade my siblings and me from watching it due to the graphic scenes and other such nonsense. That irked me a bit when I was younger because I figured I could handle whatever was in the movies.

But when I grew older, I never bothered to watch it. At the time, I just didn't have the desire. Other movies to watch. And again, when I became an adult, I never watched it, even after I bought the special collectors' edition a few years ago.

Tonight, I broke my record. I have now watched said movie. And I can honestly say that I've seen it one time too many.

Incomprehensible, an antiheroic Indy, all of it just made me wish I had kept my record going.

98,695

Tonight I finished the third draft of a book I'm now calling The Last Expedition. I've talked about this one before. I didn't reach my goal of 100,000 words, but 1,305 off is pretty close. Besides, that count is going to fluctuate when I begin the rewriting process. Sections will be cut, others will be added. Who knows what the count will be when I'm done.

So the next step is to set it aside for my mandatory two month minimum cool-down period. In mid-May or so, I'll come back to it with fresh eyes (hopefully). My goal is to have it ready to go by the end of the year, but we'll see.

Now I'm going to take a break for a day or two (mostly so I can go see my folks and siblings on Sunday and Monday), and then it'll be time to hit my next project: Caiaphas.

Marcher Lord Press

I don't know when this was announced, but today I noticed that Marcher Lord Press announced their opening line-up of books, all of which will be available on October 1st.

No, none of them are mine. Not yet anyway.

But I'm planning on buying 'em all. Go read the summaries. I think you'll want to as well.

And while we're at it, check out these cool prizes that are being given away. I'm glad I signed up as soon as I could. I wish I could sign up some more. But if you haven't yet, be sure you register today.

Symphony of Secrets

So I'm on a major Sharon Hinck kick, I guess. Finished reading The Restorer's Journey recently. And this morning, I finished reading Symphony of Secrets.

Like I said, I went to the gala opening a week ago. Jill read the book first and then passed it on to me afterwards. And this proved to be a fast, satisfying read as well.

Sharon Hinck puts together a very nice cozy mystery centered around concert flutist Amy Johnson. Amy is a single mother who finally gets her big break: she is able to join the Minneapolis Symphony. But then everything else spirals out of control. Her daughter, Clara, not only joins the (gasp!) cheerleading squad but she also starts to ask some uncomfortable questions about her father, ones that dredge up painful memories. Her friend, Lena, has converted to Christianity and is putting pressure on her to come to church (pressure that pops up in an unexpected way). And worst of all, the symphony is floundering as an unknown individual is out to sabotage everything. Amy does her best to deal with the mystery, but her efforts seem to only make things worse.

Amy is a prickly musician through and through. Like many of Sharon Hinck's characters, Amy feels inadequate in many of her roles. But unlike Sharon's other characters, Amy isn't a Christian. Not even close. She has definite First Commandment issues since she "worships" music as her god. The Christianity is not as blatant as in the Becky Miller or Restorer books but it is there.

One of the best things about this book is that I didn't see the solution coming. Well, that's not true. I had my suspicions, but Sharon created enough plausible suspects that I couldn't say for certain. The musician jokes added some spice to the story (and I especially appreciated the fact that the jokester was a trombone player. Man after my own heart). In short, if more Amy Johnson books come out, they'll be a great addition to the Sharon's pantheon of books.

Time for a Writing Update

So it's been a while since I updated the few readers who trickle into my blog on how my writing projects are going. Here we go:

The Return of the Mourning Dove

I finished the first draft of this fantasy novel late last year (in September or October, if memory serves). I had put it on the shelf to let it cool so I could take an objective look at it and begin rewriting it. Because of the move to South Saint Paul, I have not had the chance to start on it yet.

But here's a picture of the manuscript in all 100,000 words of its glory:

I really need to get to work on that soon.

The Last Expedition

I've mentioned my Christian sci-fi trilogy before. Well, I'm about two-thirds of the way through the first draft of version #3 of book 1. Confusing? Let's review.

I originally wrote The Leader's Song trilogy as one long book (easily 300,000 words long). When I realized that the sheer size would scare off publishers, I decided to chop it up into three books, namely The Rune Enigma, Exile, and Return to the Fold.

At the 2006 ACFW Conference, several people commented that there were structural problems with the books. I debated for a long time how to fix said structural problems and finally decided to tell the story in a linear fashion. The first two books would deal with what I've referred to as "the ancient story." The third book would tell the "modern story."

Back in January, I made a New Year's Resolution to write every day. And my first project would be the first volume in the rewritten Leader's Song trilogy. Since The Rune Enigma, the original title, referred to events in the "modern story," I scrapped it in favor of The Last Expedition.

In essence, this new version has three parts: The Conservatory, Target Four, and Target Ten. Target Ten is basically the last 30,000 words of The Rune Enigma and I figure I can save them with minor tweaks and updates to get everything to blend.

About two days ago, I finished work on The Conservatory portion. It clocks in at a little over 40,000 words. That leaves me with Target Four, which will hopefully be about 30,000 words long when I'm done.

The real problem is that I'm behind. I had hoped to have the entire project done at the end of February. Obviously I didn't quite make it. So now I'm upping my daily quota from "any writing" to "at least 1,000 words (preferrably 2,000)."

So there you go.

The Restorer's Journey

A week ago, my lovely wife, wonderful son, and I went to the book launch for Sharon Hinck's latest opus, Symphony of Secrets. But since Jill and I had a copy of said book already, I purchased her other latest release, The Restorer's Journey. One of the guests at the gala said that he had gotten a copy of this book and read it in two days.

And now, so have I.

Susan Mitchell and her son, Jake, go back to the People of the Verses but things go decidedly awry as Susan falls into the hands of enemies intent on destroying her and Jake ... well, let's just say that Jake has problems of his own which I won't divulge because I try not to give out too many spoilers.

To put it bluntly, I couldn't put this book down. Once I got going, I had to keep reading to find out what would happen. Hinck constructed the book to compel readers to keep going by spending a few chapters with Susan and then a few chapters with Jake. The reason why this worked so well is because it'd keep you reading. She'd end a section describing what was happening to Susan on a dramatic note, which propelled me into the section on Jake. I'd want to read Jake's section quickly, but by the time I was halfway through Jake's section, I'd be into his story again and wanting to keep going with that. But then Susan's story would come back and I'd read through her story to get to Jake's adventures... You get the idea.

Part of the fun with the Restorer series (and all of Sharon's books, for that matter) is the fact that she always has an interesting point to make about faith. In The Restorer's Son, for example, she vividly portrayed a person wrestling with God. Or sword fighting, as it were. This time, Sharon gave me some food for thought on the question of evil. I won't say what that thought was because I'd rather you go and find it for yourself.

So make sure you pick this one up. Just be ready for a marathon reading session.

JengaJam: The Aftermath

So I just got done with the Late Nite JengaJam and I think it went pretty well. There were some technical difficulties in the show but it's all good.

To be honest, I know I'm not as fascinating as some of the Jengaship's past and previous guests, but that's okay. We had a great conversation that ranged over a number of topics. And, as promised, here are the links to a bunch of the stuff we talked about:

Grey Dog Software (with an "E," not an "A!" Great) - The home of Total Extreme Wrestling 2007, a great wrestling promotion simulator

SWF - This Means War! & MWA - This Means War! - The dynasties I write in connection with the aforementioned game

The Leading Edge Magazine - The first magazine to publish one of my short stories. And if their website wasn't currently broken, I'd post a link to the actual issue, but there you go.

Irruption in Dragons, Knights & Angels - My second published short story in all its glory.

Marcher Lord Press - The print-on-demand publishing company I mentioned and my only hope for getting my science fiction series published!

The Sparrow & Children of God by Mary Doria Russell - I mentioned these in the podcast and they're well worth the read. You can see my reviews here and here.

The various writings of Dr. Paul Maier - All of it good stuff

Books written by Sharon Hinck - Also very good stuff

The World's Last Night - Contains the essay "Religion and Rocketry," Lewis's musings on how Christianity and alien life forms would intersect

Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis - Fantastic book, very complex, very worth the read.

The Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, Minnesota - Just to prove it's real. I miss you, big guy!

A Few Good G-Men

Seriously, I need to stay off YouTube. This is just awesome. One of my favorite movie scenes, rendered as Half Life 2 machinima. Really cool.

Late Nite JengaJam

So what could inspire me to post a record fourth time in one day? It would have to be something truly special. Something truly epic. Something motivated by an Internet phenomenon that is sweeping this great land. I'm speaking, of course, of...

The Late Nite JengaJam!

Jengaship, the host, is a very cool guy that I met at the Rooster Teeth website. He started a podcast about a year ago, one that I listen to faithfully every week. I used to call in to it regularly, but haven't had the chance as of late.

But that will change tomorrow night. For his guest is none other than... me.

I know. I'm scared to death.

So what will we talk about? Religion, writing, we'll just have to see. Jengaship is a skilled host and the conversations he has with his guests are always fun and insightful. So if you're free tomorrow night (Thursday, February 21st) at 10:30 EST (9:30 for those of us in CST), do the following:

1) Call 1-724-444-7444

2) Enter show ID: 6478

3) You're in!

Or, if you don't want to do that, go over to Jengaship's Talkshoe page. You can sign in and listen over the Internet.

And please. Be kind.

Indy!

I think posting three times in a day is a new record for me, but I just found this. I know, I know, I'm a little late, but I thought I'd share anyway...

All I have to say is, did anyone notice that the crate the black haired woman leaned over is labeled "Roswell?" As if Indy hasn't had enough stuff on his plate without crash-landed aliens as well!