Hero in Hiding

I just got done reading Hero in Hiding, the second novel by Mitchell Bonds.

Cyrus Solburg is back and he's got quite the problem. As the titular hero in hiding, he and his bride, Kris, have to lay low. Voshtyr Demonkin, a malevolent Arch-Villain, has decimated the Heroes Guild and is searching for Cyrus to complete his nefarious P.L.O.T. Device. Cyrus must set out on a new adventure, one that will take him to far-flung corners and teach him new ways to be a hero.

I'm honestly not quite sure what I think of this one. It's an okay story, but the more I consider it, the more I'm unsure what to make of it all. The book is funny, no doubt about it. Bonds gleefully skewers a number of heroic and villainous tropes and there are quite a few laugh-out-loud funny moments as well. But it almost seems as if the plot were kind of scatter shot. It didn't feel as focused as the first book (which I reread before tackling this one).

In terms of theology, well, that's tricky too. While there is a supreme God called "the Creator," there are a number of lesser deities as well. It's a strange pantheon that left me scratching my head more than once. It's not a major concern or anything like that, it just struck me as odd.

I guess I'll have to reserve judgment, though, and see what the third book has to offer.

Wordcount Wednesday

I almost didn't post this tonight.

As of right now, I'm at 50,393 words for Hive. That means I added 4,049 words this week. Not good, especially since my self-imposed deadline was supposed to be in six days and I've got a long way to go.

Shoot.

An Open Letter

Well, here we are. We're about midway through Apocalypse Not. The rolling rapture, scheduled for 6:00 PM in every time zone, hasn't quite reached Minnesota yet but given the fact that I haven't seen any reports about people vanishing, I'm not too worried.

Actually, I was never too worried. As I've mentioned on previous occasions, I'm a strict and ardent amillennialist, so when I heard about Mr. Camping and his odd predictions (and especially how he got there), I wasn't all that concerned. As an amillennialist, I'm not big into the rapture, the 1,000 year reign of Christ, or any of that silliness. This video helps explain a little bit as to why:



I could go into more reasons as to why I don't believe in a pre- or mid-Tribulation rapture, but instead, I thought I would take this moment to share some thoughts that I've had over the past week or so, specifically three thoughts targeted to three distinct groups.

First of all, to the date-setters, of whom Mr. Camping is but the latest, I share this piece of advice: stop it. Stop it right now. Before you grab your calculators and handy dandy charts of things to come, remember what Jesus said: no one can know the date of His return. No matter how you try to spin your predictions to explain how you figured it out, remind yourself that many, many people have played this game before and you know what? They were all wrong! Every single last one of them. That may seem obvious, but it's worth pointing out. If you think you've figured out the date of Christ's return, whether it's by arcane mathematics or divine visions or because you saw the date burned onto toast, the odds are so incredibly against you actually being right, it's in your best interest to keep your mouth shut and your message off the digital billboard near my house or the shelf of my local Christian bookstore.

I'm even including those who try to create the map-with-no-names, such as Tim LaHaye or Hal Lindsey. Especially Mr. Lindsey, who has made at least two generic time frame predictions that I know of (in the '70s and again in 2000) and yet still has enough clout that people listen to him as some sort of authority.

Part of the reason I say this is because of the damage that date setters do. Can you imagine what Mr. Camping's true believers are going through right now? How many of them have had their faith irreparably shaken because they're going to have to face the world tomorrow? I'm actually worried we're going to hear about at least a few suicides because of this mess before it's all over. Not only that, but consider what these kind of ridiculous predictions do to the rest of us Christians. Thanks to Mr. Camping and his crew, people are delighting in rubbing every Christian's face in this failed prediction, even though the majority of us didn't take it seriously in the first place.

That actually brings me to the next group I wish to address: the atheists. This morning, when I logged on to Twitter, I saw the terms "rapture" and "Christians" was trending. When I clicked on the latter, the majority of the posts were how all of us Christians were fools, as if every single last Christian was out on a hill waiting for Jesus to show up. They were gleefully slapping around a mighty big paintbrush and, I gotta say, that doesn't reflect too well on any of you. Shall I assume that all atheists are insensitive jerks by the actions of those few? I know that's not the case. But quid pro quo. If you don't want us judging your particular belief set (or lack thereof) by the actions of the rude few, you might want to tone it down. Just saying.

And finally, to the rest of my brothers and sisters in Christ, the Christians. As I was looking at the gleeful jokes from non-believers on Twitter, I realized we have a serious PR problem. A massive one. It would appear that if the rapture were to happen the way the vocal minority of Christianity expects (i.e. all believers disappear), the reaction would be unrestrained joy.

Maybe it's time to take Jesus' words seriously, that we are to be salt and light in this fallen world, so that if, by some strange chance, we do all disappear someday, the reaction of the rest of the world is, "The light has gone out."

Just some food for thought.

Wordcount Wednesday

I am disappointed with myself this week. I could make a lot of excuses, but I know that's all they are. Right now, Hive has reached 46,344 words. That means I've only added 6,796 words. So not good! Hopefully I can do better this week. We'll have to see.

CSFF Blog Tour: "The Ale Boy's Feast" Day Three

So here we are, the final day of the tour surrounding The Ale Boy's Feast by Jeffrey Overstreet.

As I sat down to start reading this book just a few days ago, one of the things that I had to remind myself was that the Keeper is not God, Auralia is not Jesus, and that I shouldn't go looking for allegorical Christian connections in this book. I mean, I've made that mistake many times. Many, many times. So I was bound and determined, this time through, to keep an open mind, not slide into the simplistic x=y allegorical formula that's tripped me up in the past, and see what the story had to say.

And I'm proud to announce that I didn't have that problem. Instead, I came up with a new one.

Toward the middle of the book, I started to wonder, Is this book truly Christian?

But before we delve into that too deeply, let me just say . . .


Now I'm not questioning Jeffrey Overstreet's faith. Far from it. I've learned long ago that you can't do that, that only God knows what truly goes on in a person's heart, soul, and mind. But as the characters delved into the deeper meanings and mythology behind the Keeper(s) and their larger purpose in the Expanse, I started getting uncomfortable.

Part of it came from some discussions that Scharr ben Fray had with his brother Ryp or with Cal-raven. For example, in Chapter 10, Ryp and Scharr get into a discussion of the Keepers, how Cal-raven was taught to put his faith in it. Ryp observes that if Cal-raven discovers that his faith was founded on a lie, he might cling to it all the harder or let go and despair.

Scharr ben Fray's response worried me a little:

We see the suggestion of a shape among the stars. We give it a name, even though that shape is only a fiction. It's how we've always assembled our myths and our religions. We do this to comfort ourselves about all we do not understand. But surely this isn't an empty pursuit. If it helps us face the day, why fight it? We all choose stories in which to root ourselves. Why not choose the story that enables us to flourish?

Later on, while talking with Cal-raven, Scharr basically says the same sort of thing: it doesn't matter if what we believe is based on a lie, just so long as it is helpful. At least, that's how I read it.

Now maybe I had elevated Scharr ben Fray into something that he wasn't. In the previous three books, he seemed to fit the "wise wizard" archetype, the guy who speaks the deeper truths in a book. In The Ale Boy's Feast, he's definitely not that. At least, not from my perspective. But given that that seemed to be his role for the series, it stung a bit when he seemed to say that religions were built on myths that don't necessarily have to be true.

Can you understand why that made me just a tiny bit uncomfortable?

I'm relatively sure that Overstreet is not including Christianity in that description. I'm hoping that he isn't viewing the Bible as filled with myths that don't have to be true to be "true" in a deeper sense. If he is, then this isn't the most orthodox Christian books.

Which actually brings me to another problem I had with the overall series. Overstreet's central thesis seems to be that Art (with a big "A") is meant to point us to a deeper reality (which Overstreet calls "the mystery," an oblique reference to a divine figure). True beauty shows us that there is more to this world and can lift us beyond the pain and garbage of the world and help us find a connection to Someone Deeper.

And that is true, I suppose. Art can inspire us, uplift us, help us feel and experience a connection to God. But can Art help us overcome the garbage that keeps us from God?

The sad thing is, Overstreet's book, while true in a generic sense, didn't strike me as all that Christian. His "mystery" could be any sort of divine figure or even impersonal divine energy. I could see a lot of non-Christians read this book and agree with everything in it . . . and come away completely unchanged. Maybe I'm being overly critical, but that's where I wound up after finishing the series.

Now, having said that, let me reiterate: I did enjoy this book, as I did all the ones that came before it. Overstreet has a great sense for storytelling. His prose is lyrical. And he kept me guessing to the very end (and even beyond). I would gladly read whatever he writes next and I would eagerly anticipate it. But at the same time, there were a few areas where I felt this whole endeavor fell short.

Go and see what the other tourists have to say:

Gillian Adams
Red Bissell
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Shane Deal
Chris Deane
Cynthia Dyer
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Dawn King
Inae Kyo
Shannon McDermott
Shannon McNear
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Sarah Sawyer
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler

CSFF Blog Tour: "The Ale Boy's Feast" Day Two

So in spite of painting our entire basement yesterday morning, I still found time to finish reading The Ale Boy's Feast by Jeffrey Overstreet. And I have to say, I'm glad I did. A lot of what Overstreet set up in the previous three books were resolved. Characters were reunited with loved ones or found resolution in their predicaments. Futures were hinted at. A lot of them died (a surprising number; I was beginning to wonder if this was written by Joss Whedon at one point). But in the end, I think I finally have a handle on the message that Overstreet has been trying to deliver.

And that's been a long time coming.

It seems every time we do a tour on one of his books, I wind up confused over who Auralia and the Keeper is. In the previous three books, I kept landing on a Christological meaning for Auralia and thinly-veiled allegory for the Keeper. Even though I was told that wasn't correct after the first time around, my mind kept drifting back to it. This time, I managed to restrain myself (the end of Raven's Ladder helped). And in the end, I think I'm okay with where we wound up.

Although, truth be told, there were some troubling statements that, left on their own, have me worried. But I'll delve into that tomorrow.

The upshot is that this was a satisfying conclusion to a really good series. I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to read them all from start to finish (my to-be-read pile is threatening to consume a good portion of our house at present). But I've certainly enjoyed my sojourn in the Expanse.

Go see what the other tourists have to say:

Gillian Adams
Red Bissell
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Shane Deal
Chris Deane
Cynthia Dyer
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Dawn King
Inae Kyo
Shannon McDermott
Shannon McNear
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Sarah Sawyer
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler

CSFF Blog Tour: "The Ale Boy's Feast" Day One

I feel a little unready for this. Part of the reason was because I thought I was going to get a review copy of this month's book, namely The Ale Boy's Feast by Jeffrey Overstreet. So I kept waiting for it and waiting for it until I realized, about a week ago, that said review copy wasn't coming. So I put in a reserve at a nearby Barnes and Noble and ran to go get it. I am not complaining about the lack of review copy. I'm just saying I didn't get my hands on this book until recently. As of right now, I'm only about 2/3s of the way through the book and I'm not sure when I'll get it finished. My family and I are in the middle of a home improvement marathon (the actual work, not the TV show), so it might not be until Tuesday or even Wednesday.

So I figured what I'd do is talk about my raw impressions of the book. I have no idea how the many plot threads will finally tie together. I don't even know that they will.

My initial thought is that I should have started preparing for this final book in the Auralia's thread series a lot earlier than I did. I'm not talking about getting the book earlier. I mean I should have read the previous three. I only read Raven's Ladder a year ago, but apparently that was too long to trust my memory. I remember King Cal-Raven. I remember Scharr Ben Fray. I remember Krawg and Warney and Jordam and Cyndere. And I remember the titular ale boy. But all of the minor characters? Yeah, I don't remember most of them. Worse, I don't remember how most of those main characters were left at the end of the last book. The first third of this book left me completely lost and, I'll be honest, a little disgruntled. It's one thing to dump a reader mid-series into a plot with a few characters. It's entirely another when your cast numbers in the hundreds. Even now, I'm still not sure I know who everyone is, and that's problematic for me and, I would think, problematic from a craft stand-point. This means that absolutely no one can board the story late. Someone picking up this book would have absolutely no idea what is going on and, I think, would stop reading midway through.

That aside, I am liking what's happening. The stakes are high for the myriad characters and Overstreet's prose is excellent, as always. I just wish I wasn't so lost.

Well, come back tomorrow and see if I have any more thoughts rattling around in my brain. Maybe I'll be done by then, maybe I won't. We'll just have to see.

Go and check out what the other tourists have to say. Hopefully they all finished the book (unlike me):

Gillian Adams
Red Bissell
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Shane Deal
Chris Deane
Cynthia Dyer
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Dawn King
Inae Kyo
Shannon McDermott
Shannon McNear
Karen McSpadden
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Sarah Sawyer
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler

Wordcount Wednesday

Close, but no cigar. My first full week (defined here as Wednesday-to-Wednesday) in May has not produced the results I expected. Not to bee overly dramatic, but life interfered a few times in the past seven days. Some of those ways were great, such as meeting an on-line acquaintance from New Zealand who's been traveling with his wife and kids through the U.S. for the past six months or so (awesome family! Wish there's wasn't an entire planet between our homes). Some of those ways were not so great, such as discovering more issues with our house that need to be fixed. Whatever the case, I didn't quite make it to my stated goal of writing 2,000 words a day.

At any rate, after working almost every day at Hive, it's weighing in at 39,548 words, which means that I added 10,964 words since last Wednesday. Respectable, but about four thousand short of the goal.

What also has me worried is that this places me at about the halfway point of my projected wordcount. Thing is, I think I'm only a third of the way through the story. I may have to reevaluate my outline a little and see if I can't condense some of the upcoming story.

Anyway, there we go. Maybe I'll do better this week, but we'll have to see. Our basement needs a new coat of paint and I suspect that's where a big chunk of my weekend is going to go.

The Annotated Firebird

These books have always had a special place in my heart.

I first discovered the Firebird trilogy about ten years ago. I had recently re-discovered the joy of Christian fiction (after having read Frank Peretti's books in high school) and I was searching the Christian Book Distributors website for fantasy and sci-fi. There wasn't much, mostly reprints of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. But I came across a trilogy of books by a lady named Kathy Tyers. And I remember sitting at my computer, thinking, I know that name. Why do I know that name? I looked up at my bookshelf and saw my collection of Star Wars novels and saw The Truce at Bakura. That clinched it for me. I ordered the books immediately. And I loved them.

I've been meaning to reread the trilogy for a while now, but I never got around to it. So when Marcher Lord Press rereleased The Annotated Firebird, I figured, this is the time to do it.

For those unfamiliar with this book, it follows a young lady named Firebird. She is born into the royal family of the planet Netaia, but she is the third-born daughter. That means she's a wastling, no more than a back-up for her older sisters. When her oldest sister has produced enough children, Firebird's life is forfeit and she will be expected to seek an honorable death.

When the time comes, she goes to war and expects not to come home. Instead, she finds herself in the hands of her enemy, a man named Brennen Caldwell, a warrior with incredible mental abilities. Instead of death, Firebird finds a new life and new battles, some against her own people, some against an ancient and determined evil. Those battles will change her in irreparable ways.

Okay, so my love for this series hasn't changed. It's a great blend of action and romance. Tyers built an incredibly detailed world and it's always a lot of fun to see how Netaian society works.

The annotations were, for the most part, helpful. Some seemed tacked on, but Tyers used those notes to discuss writing craft, the inspiration for names, hints about possible future Firebird stories, and so on. I was actually glad that she included one note. There has always been a scene in the second book, Fusion Fire, that left me a little uncomfortable. I don't want to give away too much. Let's just say I thought someone was being forced into a marriage against that individual's will. The note helped explain what was going on.

My only real concern is that there were some odd formatting issues in this volume. Most of them were small and barely noticeable, such as a backwards quotation mark in the wrong place. But twice, I noticed that the first paragraph of a new chapter was tacked on to the end of the former, often breaking in the middle of a sentence. It's a minor issue, but there we go.

If you're a fan of Christian sci fi, you have to get this book. It's a must, because Tyers helped pave the way for a lot of other great books.

Thor

And today kicks off the beginning of the summer movies for me. I went to see Thor.

Admittedly, I was a little worried going into this one. Marvel Studios has done some good work in recent years, especially with the first Iron Man movie. But let's be honest, the second one stumbled a bit. And given the way that they're pumping out movies this year, especially in anticipation of the Joss Whedon geek-fest to come (a.k.a. Avengers), I was a little worried at how well the movies would do.

But there were still glimmers of hope. Sir Anthony Hopkins as Odin All-father? Interesting. Kenneth Branagh directing a superhero movie? Color me intrigued. And the FX in the trailers appeared pretty good. And really, there's no way I'm not going to go to a superhero movie (it's going to be a busy summer movie schedule for me this year), so I was in.

The story follows the titular god of thunder, played by Chris Hemsworth. After a disastrous fight that threatens to embroil Asgard in a war with their mortal enemies, the frost giants of Jotunheim, Odin strips his headstrong and arrogant son of his powers and banishes him to Earth. There, Thor meets an astrophysicist named Jane and tries to reclaim his mythic hammer, Mjolnir. But things are not well back in Asgard. Thor's brother, Loki, is up to no good. Thor needs to reclaim his powers and fast before all hell breaks loose, both on Earth and in the immortal realms.

I have to say, my worries about this film were misplaced. This was a good, fun movie, filled with some genuine moments that I truly enjoyed. The CGI sets for Asgard were really spectacular (I particularly liked the Rainbow Bridge effect), the battle sequences were fun to watch, and there were some genuine light-hearted moments (my favorite was when Thor smiled for a Facebook photo). It would have been very easy for Branagh to get lost in the mythic backstory of the movie or take it either too lightly or too seriously. The movie walked a fine line and did a respectable job.

But I do have a few minor gripes. First of all, Loki's motivation was too scattershot for me. I honestly have no idea why he was doing what he was doing. Oh, sure, there was the requisite monologuing at the end of the movie and yes, he did blatantly tell us, but the whole thing was so convoluted that I still don't think we ever really know what he was up to. I suppose that works since he is a trickster and a liar, but even still.

Maybe if the movie had spent less time on Earth. As odd as it might sound, Thor's exile actually dragged on the movie quite a bit. It could have been compressed a great deal. And the weird pseudo-romance with Jane the astrophysicist really didn't add anything to the movie. Although it did make me wonder why a respectable astrophysicist would set up a lab in an abandoned restaurant in the middle of Small Town New Mexico. Seemed a bit off to me.

Whatever the case, I had fun. I enjoyed myself. And for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, for crying out loud, stay through to the very end! Two thirds of the audience got up and left the theater and thus missed the tag ending. C'mon, people, they had similar tags at the end of both Iron Man movies!

Wordcount Wednesday

I'm actually feeling much better about myself in terms of writing. As of right now, Hive has clocked in at 28,584 words, which means that I've added an additional 11,681 words. I'm hoping I can improve on that in the days to come. At least, I hope I can. Life is conspiring against me right now and I suspect that, due to a confluence of events beyond my control, my output is going to dip. But that's okay. We'll just have to wait and see.

Air Pistol vs. Coke Can

This is pretty cool:



Best part? These guys have made more video like this one. Be sure to check them out.

And the winners are . . .

So here we are. Over the last week, I collected six entrants to win one of three copies of Jill Williamson's excellent From Darkness Won. And then I devised the uber-scientific, totally cool and never thought of before method of putting said six entrants in a hat and having my son pick the winners.

Ahem.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the three winners:

Millardthemk, Evergreena, and Seth Skogerboe.

In a weird coincidence, those three are also the first three. I don't know how that happened. I mixed up the little slips of paper and everything!

To everyone who entered, thank you! To the winners, I'll be contacting you soon to get your details. Happy reading!

Best. Conspiracy. Ever!

So it's a week late for a good Easter video, but I have to share this one. Be sure to watch to the very end!

Wordcount Wednesday

Okay, so I've been lazy. I blame Lent. This year, that sacred season seemed intent on crushing me. I have no idea why, but I just couldn't focus. So I eked out a few words here, a few words there. But in many ways, my work on Hive ground to pretty much a halt.

The last time I checked in via these posts was two and a half months ago with only 2,997 words. That actually makes me feel pretty bad. Since then, I've gotten Hive up to 16,903 words. Yeah, it's an additional 14,000 words or so, but that isn't all that impressive. I should have done much better. And I will do better.

I think part of my problem is I don't have a finish line to aim for. When I wrote Failstate, I tried to keep myself motivated by setting a deadline for myself. Granted, I wound up moving it three or four times, but it kept me writing.

So that's what I'm doing. I am trying to reach the end of Hive by May 31st. Of this year (I would hope that goes without saying). I think I can do that. We'll just have to see.

From Darkness Won

So let's see here, yesterday was Easter, one of the busiest days of the year for us pastor-types. I was understandably tired by the end of the day, and yet I stayed up waaaaay too late last night when I should have been getting caught up on my sleep. And it's all Jill Williamson's fault, because I was finishing up From Darkness Won, the final installment in the Blood of Kings trilogy.

Okay, so it's really my fault, I'm not so brazen as to blame Jill for my own bad decisions (I'm willing to bet I'm going to pay for that choice throughout the day). But I simply had to know what was going to happen to Achan Cham and Vrell Sparrow.

Achan, the true crown prince of Er'Rets, continues to gather troops loyal to him to take on Esek, the man who tried to usurp his throne. But a new threat, a wizard named the Hadad, is asserting himself, making the battle that much more difficult. But throughout it all, Achan is distracted, because he doesn't know where Vrell Sparrow, the woman he loves, has disappeared to.

Vrell wants to join the fight as a healer, but as she tries to join the resistance, she is "stormed," her soul knocked free of her physical body. Achan must reunite her and make her whole, but after he does, she behaves oddly, as if she doesn't remember who she is or what she's been doing.

As long-time readers of my blog will know, I'm a huge fan of Jill Williamson's books ever since Marcher Lord Press published her first book two years ago. I've been looking forward to seeing how she would wrap up this series and I have to say, she did an excellent job (but I would expect nothing less). There's a lot of adventure, a lot of great humor, and some genuine gut-wrenching emotional moments. The action scenes were well-paced and, once again, Jill's world positively sparkled with detail. It's easy to tell that she's spent a lot of time crafting the history of each region. At the end of the book, there's a partial interview with the folks at Fiction Addict, and they asked Jill if we might revisit Er'Rets someday. She said it's possible. My reaction? "Yes, please!"

I was a little surprised at how much "winding down" the book did after we hit the climax. I'm not complaining about this by any stretch of the imagination. It was a nice reward to see how things worked out in the end.

That being said, I do have two minor . . . well, "complaints" is too strong of a word and I'm not really sure what word fits here. Anyway, here they are:

First, I was a little disappointed in what felt like a major change of character in Gren, Achan's childhood sweetheart. In the first two books, Gren was such a sweet girl that my heart just ached for her since she had an extremely difficult time. By the end of this book, though, my sympathy for her was pretty much gone. I wondered where the sweet girl had gone. She felt different. Maybe it's just me.

Second (and this is something that bugs me when it happens in any series of books) is the revelation of what the Hadad actually is, something that happens in the prologue of the book. Even still . . .



It's revealed that the "prime mover" in the plot against Achan and his family is a person called the Hadad, a wizard possessed by a demon called the keliy. It turns out that everything that Achan has experienced is because of the keliy's direction.

Here's my problem: there was no hint of the keliy's existence in the previous two books. This is a fairly major development that felt like it came completely out of left field for me. To get ready to read this final installment, I reread By Darkness Hid and To Darkness Fled to refamiliarize myself with characters and the overall plot. When I read about the keliy for the first time, I wracked my brain to remember if it had been mentioned or hinted at and I came up dry.

This whole situation reminds me of The DragonCrown series by Michael Stackpole. It's another fantasy series with a fantastic enemy, an evil sorceress who was awesome in her own right. Then, in the fourth book, Stackpole revealed that she worked for a group of powerful beings that were never mentioned or hinted at in the previous books. In his case it felt tacked on and off-putting. In the case of the keliy, it wasn't nearly so bad but it rankled just a little.

None of this was enough to dampen my enthusiasm or enjoyment of this book or the series as a whole. This is, quite simply, some of the best fiction I've read over the past few years and I'm a little sad that the journey is over.

But maybe I'm not quite done with this book yet. I actually have three copies of From Darkness Won that are looking for good homes. So here's what I'll do. Leave a comment on this post with a way to contact you between now and next Monday at midnight, CST. Next Tuesday, I'll put the entrants in a hat and have my son draw three names. Those three will win a copy of the book.

One more thing . . .

It ain't Easter until I've heard Toccata. And now, you can share in this awesome tradition too.



Allow me to explain why: when I was growing up at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, our organist played this as a postlude every Easter. It became ingrained in my psyche. After my father took a call to a congregation in Wisconsin, when the family gathered for Easter, we would listen to a recording of this magnificent organ piece before we ate dinner.

Now I'm very fortunate: the organist at my parish is very talented and has a top-of-the-line instrument. Not only that, but she also knows of my love for this piece. She played it at both services as a postlude and I found myself humming along with the pedal line (my family would "sing" along with the music and we took different parts; don't ask). But this is simply too good not to share.

A blessed Easter to you all, for He is risen!

Portal 2

Oh my goodness gracious. I just finished playing through the single player campaign for Portal 2 and I have to say, this was a great game, just as I expected it to be.

For those of you unfamiliar with this game franchise, well, shame on you. The original game was released as part of the Orange Box, a collection of Valve games, and I actually bought said Box specifically so I could play it. In the original, you played as a mute woman, being put through a series of tests by an insane, evil, and extremely witty AI named GLaDOS. At the end of the original game, you escape GLaDOS's clutches and kill her. Recently, the folks at Valve changed the ending. Instead of escaping, a robot dragged you back into the Aperture Science facilities.

Apparently said robot put you on ice. You awake once again as Chell, the silent test subject, many, many years later. Like centuries later. And your task is the same: escape Aperture Science. Slight problem: in your escape attempt, helped along by a little computer core named Wheatley, you wake up GLaDOS. And she's not exactly pleased to see you. And so things pick up pretty much where you left off: GLaDOS starts testing you.

Your only "weapon?" A portal gun. You place a blue portal on one wall, an orange portal on another, and you've got a tunnel. Think the portable holes in Looney Toons and you get the idea. As you navigate the test chambers and the depths of Aperture Science, you have to use the gun, various environmental helps (my favorite is the blue "bouncy" gel. I know that's not its name, but I love that stuff), and some outside-the-box problem solving ability to make it to the end.

The original game was short. This one is much longer but it doesn't lag at all. In some ways, the story reminds me a little of Bioshock as you explore the deserted corridors of Aperture Science's past testing endeavors.

But the thing that really sets this game apart from the rest is the humor. GLaDOS is hilarious, as always, and Wheatley is great too. And J. K. Simmons rocks as Cave Johnson, Aperture's founder. I laughed out loud a lot while playing.

So this is a great game, definitely worth your time. I haven't tried the co-op mode yet but I can't wait to tackle more Aperture puzzles. I think I'll be enjoying this game for a long time to come.

Could Star Wars happen today?

I just read this interesting article by Gary Kurtz, the producer of Episodes IV and V. Basically he asks and answers the question of whether or not we could witness a movie phenomenon like Star Wars overtaking everyone.

His answer seems to be: "Maybe not."

Here's the part that really got my attention:

Could Star Wars happen again today? It's hard to say because things were so different back then. The biggest difference is that it's now impossible to keep anything secret because there's too much information surrounding a film before anyone has even seen it. Even screenplays are published online prior to release.

In 1977 only a few thousand people knew about Star Wars when it first arrived in cinemas, but it spread like wildfire and soon there were queues everywhere. These days you would never see that because everybody gets into the first screening they want to get into, even if the movie is doing really well. Back then a film might open in just a few cinemas nationwide. When I lived in New York we used to drive around and see if there were any queues for the latest [Ingmar] Bergman. If there was nobody outside you wondered if it wasn't any good.

It's an interesting read and it won't take you long either.

The Sims Medieval

It's time for the Sims to get medieval.

Okay, so The Sims Medieval has been out for a while and, truth be told, it wasn't really on my radar. Part of that stems from the fact that I was a bit disappointed with The Sims 3: Late Night. Part of it was general ambivalence toward a stand alone Sims title. But my in-laws got me this for my birthday and, I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised, mostly because, while this is a Sims title, it has a completely different feel.

Basically the player controls "hero Sims." These heroes fulfill certain roles within a kingdom. Each time you found a kingdom, you start with a monarch, either male or female. Once the game is started, the player accepts quests that the heroes perform. Successfully completing the quests gives the player points, which he or she can use to invest in more heroes, buildings that benefit the kingdom, or to forge alliances with distant lands. Some of the quests get quite complicated, requiring the player to keep tabs on two (or possibly three, although I haven't encountered that yet) heroes at a time.

Further complicating the game are the heroes' responsibilities. Every "morning," each hero is given two or three tasks that they must complete. For example, the monarch might need to write two new laws. A blacksmith will be given orders to complete. The wizard must gather herbs for potions. That sort of thing. Failing to complete these responsibilities can negatively impact the hero and their progress on the quest.

On top of that, each game has an overall focus. For example, in my last game, I was charged with creating an empire, which meant I had to focus on annexing my neighbors. Oddly, the game ended before I could annex them all, meaning I only achieved a silver for that achievement.

The game isn't as much of a sandbox as the other Sims games. The quests definitely drive the game, and that's both a help and a hindrance at the same time. On the one hand, it gives the game a definite forward feeling, a target to shoot for. But it also frustrated me on occasion. There was no way to get a feel for how a hero worked before I had to get them going on a quest. I still have no idea how the merchant profession works after playing through it twice. There were a few interactions I missed from previous Sims games, such as an "introduce" social. In my first game, I had noticed a young woman I wanted my king to marry, only he didn't know her, but another hero did. Try as I might, I couldn't get the king and my pick for him to cross paths and inviting them both over to see their mutual friend didn't help.

The one thing I think the game lacks is a quest editor. While there is a broad range of quests, I saw the same ones pop up in my two play-throughs. I suspect that, if I try to get all the achievements and see everything about the game, I'll see the same ones over and over and over. That will get old quickly. The game could benefit from an in-game quest editor, maybe something similar to what Maxis included in Spore: Galactic Adventures, a way for players to write their own quests and share them with each other. It's probably a pipe dream, but it would be cool and could add some variety to the game.

Something that surprised about this game was the rather adult nature of some of the themes. For example, in one quest, my bard had to . . . well . . . get intimate with someone to acquire inspiration for a grand work of art. Afterwards, she wound up both pregnant (not planned) and apparently with a social disease. No fooling. That really surprised me.

But what also kind of surprised me was the inclusion of religion in this game. Naturally, on my first play-through, I gravitated toward that immediately.

Basically, the Sims in this game can worship a deity named "the Watcher." Unsurprisingly, that's what the game calls the player. Anyway, there are two "flavors" to the Watcher religion, the Jacobians and the Peterans. The Jacobians seem pretty analogous to high church Catholics in the Middle Ages. The Peterans are more like monks. Both heroes from the different branches can pray, bless other Sims, and even give sermons. Sadly, my Jacobian priests keep getting booed, but seeing as they're rated on how much people fear them, I don't feel too bad about it.

All in all, this is a really fun game to play. While different from the other Sims games, it still retains the goofy humor that makes the franchise so much fun. While there are some things that are lacking that will limit its replayability, I suspect that there will be many kingdoms that will rise under my benevolent guidance.