Insurgent

It had been a while since I've been to the dystopian future that Veronica Roth created in Divergent, but I finally got a copy of Insurgent for my Kindle for Christmas. I finally managed to eke out some time to actually read it to find out what happened to Tris and Tobias.

In some ways, the hiatus left me a little confused. I could barely remember where I had left off. I vaguely remembered something about Tris switching factions to become Dauntless. I knew something bad happened toward the end of the first book. So when I was dumped back into futuristic Chicago with very little by way of introduction, I'll admit that I floundered.

But it's a testament to Veronica Roth's abilities that I didn't care. Once again, the characters came to life and drew me into their story as the Dauntless tried to take on the Erudite. Tris learns more about Tobias's family and about herself, leading up to a dramatic conclusion that left me ready for the last book.

I know that I'm a little late to the game and I also know that YA dystopian books are all the rage. But Veronica Roth's are the best of the best. You would do well to check them out.

Let's talk Prom!

This last Saturday, I hosted a release party for Failstate: Legends. As a result, I didn't post my usual "Let's talk..." column about the new book. So I'm making up for it a little late. But instead of talking Legends, let's talk about prom.

More specifically, what happens when a superhero goes to the prom?

While I was editing Legends, I realized something kind of embarrassing. There was a continuity glitch between the two books. Not a major one, mind you, but it was enough to make me realize that I had left a major thread dangling, one that I felt had to be tied off. But doing so in Legends would take up a lot of space and, I realized, it wouldn't really contribute much to that book.

What to do, what to do?

Well, I decided that I would write a short story to help bridge the two books. It could deal with that loose thread and provide a little fun.

Thus Gauntlet Goes to Prom was born. It's not very long, approximately 44 pages, but it helps bridge the two books. I had a lot of fun writing it and I had a lot of fun working with Carlo and Kat, the artists who created the covers for the books. And now I'm glad to say that for a little while longer, it's FREE to download from Amazon.

But it won't stay free for long.

So if you want to see what happens when a superhero goes to the prom, be sure to click on over to Amazon and pick this up.

The Extroverted Writer

In the interest of fairness, I'll just get this out of the way up front. Amanda Luedeke is my literary agent. She's a big part of the reason that I'm published and she's great at what she does. What makes her unique is that before she became a literary agent, she was a marketer, a subject that usually gets most authors tied up in knots. For a while now, Amanda has been doing regular posts on marketing at Chip MacGregor's blog. Well, now she's gathered all of that advice together in one easy-to-read place: The Extroverted Writer: An Author's Guide to Marketing and Building a Platform. It's a short book, easy to read, and easy to digest.

Amanda covers a diverse range of topics, like how to use Facebook or Twitter efficiently, what you should blog about, and what should be on a website. Unlike a lot of marketing books, this isn't just empty cheerleading, she gives practical advice with good suggestions on what to do.

If you're an author, either published or not-quite-there-yet, this is a good resource for you to have. I'm sure you'll get a lot out of it. Although you may not have the experience of hearing Amanda's voice in your head while you're reading it. LOL!

FFF Part II -- Retracing Staci's Steps

When we left off last, Professor Veronica Weathers had received a frantic voicemail message from one of her students, Staci Fowler. Staci had been on the trail of some sort of expose when she and several of her friends disappeared. The message made it sound like Staci was being hunted by someone in a town called Garretsburg.

We pick up with Veronica driving in her car. She has her video camera going on her dashboard. She explains that she tried calling the police to let them know what she had heard. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a dead end. The police contacted their counterparts in Garretsburg and were told that everything was fine. Without further evidence, they couldn't do anything.

So now, Veronica took it upon herself to dig up that evidence. She's heading to Garretsburg with a camera of her own to see what she can find. Maybe she'll be able to find something that will get the police to act.

Next we see small snippets of her arrival in Garretsburg. It's a small town, a population of about 4,000. There are deep woods outside the town, a brick church near the downtown, a few pleasant parks. There's only one motel to speak of. Veronica goes there first. While filming, she goes to the front desk with a picture of Staci. She asks the attendant if Staci stayed at the motel. The clerk barely glances at the picture but informs Veronica that no one has stayed at the motel recently. Veronica presses the clerk, but she insists that Veronica leave.

Veronica does, but she goes around to the back of the motel and finds a dumpster. She sets the camera aside and sifts through some of the trash. She quickly finds what she's looking for, namely a bag with a tag that has Staci's name on it. The contents of the bag are missing.

Vernoica sets out with her camera into Garretsburg. She shows Staci's picture to some folks in the local diner and asks if they've seen Staci or her friends. Everyone claims to have not seen them, but there's an underlying tension to the townsfolk. It's clear that they don't appreciate this outsider asking questions. When Veronica goes out to a local park to ask some of the mothers gathered at the playground, she spots the sheriff's car parked a block away and it's clear that she's being watched.

Most of the mothers at the playground ignore her, but one little boy seems ready to help. He claims to have seen Staci and her friends and says that they got themselves into trouble. When Veronica asks where they went, the boy claims to not know but says that if she goes out of town and finds the "bad place," she might find what she's looking for. One of the mom's shouts and the boy runs away, along with the rest of the kids.

Veronica gets in her car and drives to the edge of town in the direction the boy pointed. She finds a dense woods and goes in, wondering aloud how she's going to find this "bad place." But then, she spots something in the underbrush. She brushes away some dirt and dead leaves and discovers it's a camera bag. The tag marks it as belonging to Leon Johnson, one of the missing college students. She opens it and discovers that the videocamera is in there, along with a portable hard drive. She pulls it out of the ground and gets back in her car. She drops the camera on the dash, revealing that the sheriff is right behind her. She throws her car into drive and roars away. The sheriff follows her for a while until she manages to lose him on the freeway. She wonders what she'll find when she gets the camera back to her office.

So what will she find? Come back next Friday to see what Leon's camera reveals.

Oh, and thanks for the comments! I like the fact that people are thinking about how this could be filmed best. I'll be honest, I really don't think this will ever get put on film. I don't have the technical know-how to do so. But I'll be even more honest and say that I briefly considered starting something on Kickstarter. LOL!

Wordcount Wednesday

As I announced last week, I've taken a break from Failstate #3. Instead, I've spent the last week sifting through my old friend Numb, cleaning up the text so we can hopefully do some advance reader copies. It's been interesting revisiting this one. It took me a while to get going, but I think I've done pretty good. As of right now, I've made it through 153 pages out of 330. Not too bad.

Hopefully I'll have this one done in the next few days. Then it's back to Failstate #3's first draft.

And now I have to get off the computer and get some sleep. I seem to be coming down with some sort of cold and that's not good, especially since the Failstate: Legends launch party is this Saturday. Even if you can't be there in person, there are details in the Facebook invite about how you can join us via Ustream.

Good night, all.

Let's Talk Title!

As I promised last week, I'll share the story of where Failstate: Legends's title came from. It's a tale that's filled with mystery, heartbreak, and a little salsa.

Okay, not really. But it was a stumper for a long time.

See, I hate titles. Either I have an idea right away for a book or story's title or I have no idea what to call it. That latter was the case for Legends when I first got started. I kept working on it, hoping that at some point, a word or phrase would magically fall into my lap. That didn't happen. For a long time, when I was discussing this book with my wife, it was simply known as "Failstate #2." Not the most inspiring of titles.

Eventually what I did was sit down one night and write down every name that occurred to me. No judgment on quality, just different possible titles. I knew I wanted it to be "Failstate-colon-something-or-other." So I came up with a list of about a dozen titles or so.

Then I went to my colleagues at Marcher Lord Press. I shared a back-cover copy of the book, along with my list of possible after-the-colon subtitles. A bunch of the titles got rejected outright, including a few that I really liked (I don't remember what they were, so I guess it was a good thing in the long run).

The one we landed on was "Legends," partially because Failstate is striving to establish his own legend, and also because . . . well. Hmmmmm. How to do this without spoilers? Let's just say that he encounters some living legends along the way.

So there we go. It's not the most exciting of stories, but that's where the title came from.

If you have any questions for me, be sure to leave them in the comments. Otherwise, I'll be stuck trying to come up with questions on my own. And we wouldn't want that.

FFF Part 1 -- Staci's Gone Missing

Time to start writing my really bad found footage horror movie. I don't have a title for this. I have no idea where this is going. I don't know how long this series might last. But that's not going to stop me.

So let's get started!

Our untitled movie opens with news footage talking about how a professor and four students have gone missing from New Belton University. Professor Howard Erickson holds a press conference, explaining that he thinks his colleague, journalism professor Veronica Weathers, and the students were victims of foul play. He claims that he has evidence of this. When the local police chief is asked about this evidence, he dismisses it as a hoax.

Cut to an interview with Professor Erickson. He explains that he received an odd e-mail one evening from Weathers, claiming that she had uploaded some video footage into the department server and that it had to do with four New Belton students who had missed classes for several days. Erickson said he retrieved the footage and it disturbed him enough that he called the police. Now that the police have dismissed his concerns, he's put the footage together as best he could and now he's releasing it to the public in hopes that someone will be able to shed some light on what happened.

We cut to an image of Veronica Weathers. She's a nice looking middle aged woman. She's obviously set up a camera to record herself talking. She explains that she's a journalism professor at New Belton. She goes on to talk about how she's concerned about one of her students, a young lady named Staci Fowler. Staci is a promising student with aspirations for being a political reporter. Several weeks ago, Staci approached Weathers, asking for advice on how to do a big expose. Staci didn't go into details at the time, but she claimed to be on the trail of a story that could help make her mark before she's even graduated from college. Weathers says that she humored Staci at the time but thought that her student was exaggerating.

Then Staci and three of her friends left campus. Several days later, Weathers received an ominous voice mail message from Staci. Weathers pulls out her phone and plays the message for the camera.

At first, we don't hear anything, just rustling and what might be heavy breathing. But then, we hear the gasps and sobs of a young woman crying. "Dr. Weathers? It's Staci. We went to Garretsburg anyway, and now . . . I don't know what happened. Cynthia is dead and . . ." A burst of static drowns out her words. When they come back, she's crying harder. "We should never have come here. The sheriff is in on it." Another burst of static. "He's after me now and I don't know if---"

The line goes dead. Weathers explains that she looked it up on the map. Garretsburg is a small community to the north of New Belton, so she's planning on going up there to see what she can find out.

Want to know what Weathers finds in Garretsburg? Come back next week to see. And if you like what you're reading, be sure to let folks know what I'm up to. The more the merrier.

Wordcount Wednesday

Ever have one of those days? I've been having one of those days for the last three months or so. Okay, so that's a bit pessimistic. At the least, it's been one of those weeks. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting it out of first when it came to writing. As a result, I didn't get a lot added to Failstate #3.

As of right now, Failstate #3 weighs in at 22,248 words, meaning I added 4,980 words over the past week.That may seem like a lot, but I think most of that was added at a writing retreat I was at today.

And, truth be told, I'm not sure if I'll be able to add that much in the coming weeks either. I realized I need to start work on an old story, the one that prompted me to start Wordcount Wednesday in the first place. It's been almost four years since I started it, but Numb is going to be published by Marcher Lord Press this fall. Thing is, I (hopefully) have grown a bit since I wrote that, so at the prompting of my publisher, I'm going to do a sweep through it to see if I can polish it up even more.

So Failstate #3 might be put on hold for a few days so I can do that edit sweep. But once that's done, I'm intending to crack down and get #3 finished.

Angel Eyes

So I'd been hearing a lot of buzz about Shannon Dittemore's Angel Eyes. The Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour, of which I used to be a member, did this book recently. So I decided I should check this one out and see what it's all about.

The story is about Brielle Matthews, a young woman who has been pretty much forced to move back home to the small town of Stratus. Brielle had left town to be a dancer and a model, but a tragedy around her best friend Ali has forced her to return home. She's haunted by the guilt of Ali's death and, as a result, feels perpetually cold.

But then she meets Jake Shield, the new kid in town. Jake practically radiates heat. At first, Brielle doesn't want anything to do with him . . . or anyone else, for that matter. But Jake is persistent. He's always around, offering his heat and maybe more.

Pretty soon, in spite of herself, Brielle finds herself warming to the mysterious Jake. And a good thing too. Because without realizing it, Brielle has stumbled into a dangerous situation, one that stretches from this world into one that can only be seen by angel eyes.

Okay, I'll say this up front. I thought the chapters told from Brielle's perspective were really great. The prose was almost poetic. And the dialogue was great also. Dittemore was extremely creative in the way that she put this story together and the way she portrayed spiritual warfare.

And yet . . .

And yet this is another spiritual warfare book, angels taking on demons in unseen realms. It's ground that's been covered before. Yes, Dittemore adds some interesting twists to it, but it didn't really make me sit up and take notice.

There were also some sections of very lengthy dialogue (more like monologues) that kind of threw me. And this may sound harsh, but Brielle as a character kind of bugged me. It's almost like she was just a whisker shy of crossing over the border into being conceited. Or not. I'm not sure what it was about her, but I had a hard time relating to her.

This isn't to say that it's a bad book. Not at all. A lot of people have read it and really enjoyed it. Perhaps I'm too old and the wrong gender. Whatever the case, it was good, but I'm not lining up to purchase the next book in the series. Maybe some day, but not when I've got somewhere around 50+ books in my to-be-read pile and waiting on my Kindle.

Let's Talk Legends!

Last week, I announced the release of Failstate: Legends, the sequel to my debut novel. I also promised that I would tell some stories about the writing of this book and answer any questions that you might have. Well, a question arrived from my website's e-mail from Christina:

The question is: Zombies?
I'm not too certain about having things like that in my books.I Mean, reanimated brain-eating corpses? that is something that makes me more than a bit uncomfortable. Especially in christian fiction.
What are your thoughts on paranormal (Namely Zombies) in christian speculative fiction?

Thanks for the question, Christina!

Actually, it's funny. This wasn't my first idea for a sequel for Failstate. I tossed around a few ideas with Jeff Gerke, the phenomenal publisher of Marcher Lord Press, and Amanda Luedeke, my excellent agent. It was Amanda who first suggested the zombies and, I'll admit, I was a little hesitant. I mean, zombies are hot right now, as evidenced by the popularity of The Walking Dead, Warm Bodies (both as a book and in the recent movie that I haven't seen yet), World War Z (again, both as a book and a movie that no one has seen yet), plus video games that I've played like Plants vs. Zombies and Left 4 Dead 2. I could keep going, but you get the idea. Zombies are hot right now.

I think part of my initial hesitation on this was that I didn't want to be seen as trend-following. That's never a good idea for authors, especially since by the time most writers hop on board the bandwagon, it's moved on to something different. But the more I talked with Amanda, the more I liked the idea. I started playing with how it might all play out for Failstate and what it could mean for the series. And I came to love the idea.

But I know, Christina, that that doesn't completely answer your question. I guess my answer is, why not?

That may sound flippant, and I don't mean for it to. But Christian speculative fiction in recent years has been pushing the envelope a little in regards to the subjects that we're willing to portray and explore. For example, a few years ago, it would have been taboo to portray dragons as anything other than harbingers of evil, especially given the role a dragon plays in the book of Revelation. But then Bryan Davis and Donita K. Paul wrote books that had dragons as the heroes and it worked. The same could be said for magic. Given the hue and outcry among some circles at the Harry Potter books, you'd think that Christians should never do anything with magic. But again, some Christian authors have woven magical systems into their books and made them work well.

And really, the concept of zombies is actually pretty Biblical, if you think about it. And I'm not talking about resurrection stories, like the widow of Nain's son or the saints who were raised on Good Friday. Instead, I'm talking about the on-going zombie apocalypse that we have going on around us right now. If we take Ephesians 2:1-4 and Colossians 2:13 seriously, then those who are without Christ are dead. And yet they still get up, walk around, and go about their business like they're alive. You could say that we're surrounded by zombies in need of new life right now. Not only that, but if you take John 10:28 seriously, then that means that there are people who are physically dead and yet still alive. Both of those situations sound a little like zombies to me. All of these ideas are explored in two very excellent books, Night of the Living Dead Christian by Matt Mikalatos and Undead: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn by Clay Morgan.

So ultimately, I'd say that using zombies, if done from a Biblical perspective (which I've tried to do; I leave it to my readers to tell me how well I've done), is fair game. So long as we don't compromise the message of the Gospel, that Jesus is the one who gives us true life that cannot end, we're good.

Christina also had one other question:

And when is your Failstate mini novella coming out? It will be out in paperback right?

I am still working on getting the mini-novella out. There are some final details to be hammered out, but once those are taken care of, it'll be out as an ebook via Amazon. I believe that eventually it might be available as a paperback, because I think that Amazon is doing print-on-demand for their Kindle books, but I don't know for sure.

So there we go! Next week, I'll talk about where the title came from. That is, unless someone wants to hijack the discussion with a question!

But before I go, two bits of business. First of all, I'm holding a Failstate: Legends Giveaway on Goodreads that will end on my birthday. That's right, it'll be my birthday, but you could be the one getting the present!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Failstate

by John W. Otte

Giveaway ends April 10, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Pretty good odds so far.

Also, in two weeks, I'll be having a launch party for the book. If you're in the Twin Cities area, I'd love to see you there! But even if you're not, you can participate via Ustream. We'll be broadcasting it live!

So see you all later, and happy reading!

Freaky Fun Friday

This past Tuesday, I made a promise on my Facebook author page. To wit:

Well, I kept my promise about resurrecting Wordcount Wednesdays, so now I have one more promise to keep. Welcome to Freaky Fun Friday, a miniseries that will officially start next Friday and continue until . . . well, until I run out of what I want to do with it. I have no idea how this is going to work.

Maybe I should back up and explain what I'm up to here.

When I was in college, I tried my hand at writing screenplays. I wrote a grand total of three. One was a knock off of The Boys from Brazil, where a creepy cult cloned their dead founder not once but twice (and the second time, turned her into a girl. Don't ask. It made sense at the time). The second was a mash up of "Romeo and Juliet" and Enemy Mine (out of the three, this one is the one I'm still proud of). The third was an abysmal romantic "comedy" about an angel sent to date a guy and make him more of a catch for women. Seriously.

Anyway, I eventually returned to the world of "serious literature," i.e. stories of superheroes fighting zombies, because I figured I didn't know the first thing about selling a screenplay, let alone filming one. But that doesn't mean that my brain has given up on coming up with movie ideas.

It happens every now and then. Not often, but recently, I've been beset by ideas for a new movie.

More specifically, a horror movie.

This really surprises me. I'm not a fan of horror usually. I'm a little squeamish when it comes to slasher stuff. But I do make an exception for a certain kind of horror movie: found footage movies.

I don't know why, but for some reason, I love movies that pretend to be footage from real events. My younger brother and I once had a great deal of fun dissecting a made-for-TV movie called Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County. I'm probably one of the few people who actually enjoyed The Blair Witch Project, even if the ending did make it impossible for me to enter my own basement for a week. I've watched the Paranormal Activity movies and I especially loved Trollhunter (seriously, go watch that movie now!) and Chronicle (which, granted, wasn't a horror movie).

Anyway, the point is, for the past couple of weeks, I've had the idea for a found footage horror movie rattling around in my brain. And here's the thing, folks. While I've written three screenplays, I have no idea how to write a found footage one. Even if I did, I still don't have any idea how to produce it (although I'll admit I briefly toyed with the idea of taking it to Kickstarter to see what would happen). But I can't seem to exorcise this idea.

So that's what I'm doing. Over the next few weeks, on Fridays, I'll be telling you the story of this found footage idea. A lot of it is extremely rough. Big chunks of it are completely nonexistent right now. I've got a beginning, some scraps of stuff for the middle, and an ending. But I need to share this so it'll leave me alone.

Buckle in, folks. I can't promise that it'll be scary, but I'm willing to bet it might be a little fun. See you next week for the first installment of this still untitled found footage horror film.

Wordcount Wednesday

Don't call it a comeback!

Or do, I guess. It's time to resurrect an old standard here at the Least Read Blog. It's time for me to resurrect Wordcount Wednesday, mostly because I need a good kick in my rear to keep me writing. So every week, come back here and see how far I'm making it in my current work-in-progress.

So what's that new project? Why, Failstate #3. The working title is "Failstate: Reflections," but it might change to "Failstate: Refractions" at some point. I'm still mulling that over.

As of right now, Failstate: Reflections is weighing in at 17,268 words. Hopefully that number will grow every week. If it doesn't, I hereby give you permission to yell at me.

Scarlet

So I've been wanting to read this sequel for a while now. When I read Cinder, I really enjoyed it, the odd blend of fairytales and sci fi. I knew that I had found something special in that book. So when I heard that Scarlet was coming out, I knew that I had better hop to and get it right away. Once again, I'm blown away by Marissa Meyer's creativity and craft. This was a very enjoyable book that added to the Lunar Chronicles and makes me want to learn more.

Scarlet is a young woman who lives with her grandmother on a farm in France. Well, at least, she used to. Her grandmother has disappeared. The police have pretty much given up on finding her grandmother, but Scarlet knows that something bad has happened. Grandma wouldn't just run away from home, would she? On a run into town to deliver some vegetables, she meets a young street fighter who calls himself Wolf. Soon Scarlet finds herself on a cross-country adventure as she and Wolf travel to Paris to find her grandmother.

But we haven't lost track of Linh Cinder, the fugitive cyborg who starred in the first book. Cinder has escaped from prison and is traveling with a dashing ne'er-do-well named Carswell Thorne. She's still reeling from everything she's learned about herself and her past, but she doesn't have time to really process any of it. Queen Levana of Luna is still after her and she will stop at nothing to get her hands on Cinder.

So let's talk about my one minor gripe, a trifle, a quibble. This was predictable. Again. I saw the big twist coming in Cinder, and I saw the twist coming in this one too. As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to bet that anyone reading this review can see it coming without reading the book.

But you know what? I didn't care! The characters are engaging, the stakes are high, and I'm finding that Scarlet and Wolf are just as much fun to travel with as Cinder was in the first book. I really can't wait to see where the story goes from here, but from what I can see, I've got a year to wait. I'm guessing that in this case, absence really will make the heart grow fonder. I can't wait to see what Cinder and Scarlet do next, and what the next fairytale plundered will be.

Failstate: Legends is here!

I know I've gone mostly silent on my blog. For some reason, I seem to have migrated my attention over to my Facebook page. I'll still do book reviews, game reviews, and so on, but I do a lot of my ruminating over there.

But today, I'm proud to announce that my second novel, Failstate: Legends, was officially released by Marcher Lord Press. Well, it was released yesterday.

Here's the backcover copy, in case you're curious:

A young superhero.

A legend reborn.

And a whole mess of zombies.

Failstate (a.k.a., Robin Laughlin) thought his life would get easier after he’d earned his superhero license. But now a legendary superhero has returned from the dead…along with a horde of shambling horrors who want to eat his brains.

New Chayton’s other licensed heroes are indisposed, meaning that the whole weight of protecting the city has fallen on Failstate. And nobody thinks he’s up to the challenge. At least he has help from his older brother, Gauntlet, and his best friend, Veritas. Or does he?

As if the zombie apocalypse weren’t enough, complicating things are not one but two beautiful girls vying for Failstate/Robin’s affections—and his own powers are doing something…interesting.

In the superhero business, interesting is bad.

Legends walk the streets of New Chayton. If Failstate can somehow survive the next few weeks, he could become one of them.

Or, if you're more of a visual person, here's a book trailer I put together about a week ago:



As of right now, if you want a print copy of the book, you can order it direct from the publisher. You can also find the ebook on Kindle , the Nook, and the Kobo.

But let's have some fun also. Over the next few weeks, I'll be telling little stories about writing this one and I'll answer anyone's questions about this story or the series. Got a question about Failstate and his world? Ask it in the comments. Then come back next Saturday for the answer!

Confess and Believe

Does Paul give us a checklist or a way of life?

Text: Romans 10:8b-13

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Iscariot

I think I've said this before, but I love me some Tosca Lee.

. . . ahem

That sounded better in my head before I typed it out. Let me rephrase:

I am a huge fan of Tosca Lee's writings. I was mesmerized by Demon: A Memoir.I absolutely adored Havah.When she started talking about the "Big Scary" on her blog, I wondered what on earth it could be. Then she announced that she would be tackling the life of Judas Iscariot.

Holy cow!

And now we finally have the fruits of her labors. I simply devoured Iscariot: A Novel of Judas shortly after it arrived. I simply couldn't help myself.

We all know what the Bible tells us about Judas which is, basically, nothing. He's called Judas Iscariot. His dad's name was Simon. He's the treasurer of the disciples and a thief. He betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. And he later regretted his actions and killed himself.

That's not a lot to go on, but Lee did an incredible job with less when it came to Eve.

The picture she paints of Judas is one of a man consumed by his own uncleanness and insufficiency. Caught up in the revolts that took place after Herod the Great died, young Judas finds himself defiled by the actions of his family, particularly his mother. Worse, bitterness and rage consume him in his adult life, thanks to the actions of Pontius Pilate. He's a pious Jew, one who yearns for salvation for his people. More importantly, he needs that salvation for himself.

It's little wonder that he winds up gravitating toward a certain itinerant preacher from Nazareth.

In Lee's book, Judas comes to life as a man who longs for what he sees to be true, but who continually stumbles over himself. Even though we know how this story is going to end (a fact that Lee tips her hat to by starting the book with the "Epilogue"), you want Judas to find what he's looking and longing for.

But what I find truly fascinating is Lee's portrayal of Jesus.

This is always a bit of a risk, when an author tries to write for Christ. Stray from the Biblical text too much, and Jesus comes off as unrealistic. Stick to it too closely, and the reader has little reason to, well, read. But where Lee really succeeds is bringing out the nuance to what Christ was teaching. Specifically, she dwells on how the crowds would receive His ministry.

In short, this is a fantastic, stupendous book. Sure, there are some points that I'd quibble over. For example, I personally believe that Judas betrayed Jesus to "back Him into a corner" and force Him to act as the Messiah, a plan that backfired on him horribly. But those are minor, microscopic flaws in an otherwise outstanding piece of Biblical fiction.

Undead: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn

Lately I've had zombies on the brain. Part of that is because I've been working on the final edits for "Failstate: Legends," which has zombies in it. Maybe it's because a few weeks ago, I put "The Walking Dead" on our Netflix queue and I keep wondering if I should watch it. But in the last week, my preoccupation with the undead has been because of Undead: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn by Clay Morgan. It's a fast read but very worth it. I mean, how often do you find a book about zombie non-fiction.

Specifically, Clay takes a look at the numerous "zombie" stories that we find in the Bible, namely the times when people are brought back from death to life. Sure, we usually call those instances "resurrections," but the metaphor works. I mean, when I teach confirmation and I tell my students about the resurrection on the Last Day, they freak out because they think I'm saying there's going to be a zombie apocalypse. Clay looks at the stories of Elijah and Elisha, as well as the New Testament stories of the widow's son at Nain, Jairus's daughter, Lazarus, Tabitha, and Eutychus. Clay spends a few moments retelling the Biblical story and then spends the rest of the chapter teasing out spiritual truths and insights about how we are too live as reborn people of God.

I really did enjoy the book, especially the personal stories that Clay wove into the text. In many ways, this book reminds me of Matt Mikalatos's Night of the Living Dead Christian. They both cover the same territory. But both books are an excellent reminder that God calls us not to just exist as half-dead creatures, but to live as new creations. I highly recommend this book!

Iron Pillars

We may not all be called to be prophets, but we are all called to take our stand.

Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10, 17-19

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Miasmata

Where was that stupid plant? I knew I needed it to synthesize the cure for the plague running through my veins. I had followed the notes the other researchers had left scattered across Eden, updating my map as I could. I knew I had to be close. Maybe if I stopped to get my bearings again, triangulate my position from the large stone statues that dotted this island paradise? I found a good vantage point and tried to find the monuments on my map. No, no, no! I couldn't find any of them on the map! So where was I?

And then I heard it. The steady thrum of a heartbeat growing louder with each moment. The beast was coming.

I dove for the nearest tall grass, kneeling down and holding my breath as the giant cat-like creature stalked into view. If only I could stay hidden. If only I could find familiar landmarks. If only I could find that plant! Then maybe I could discover the cure and save the world.



 Every now and then, I find an awesome indie game that's quite a lot of fun. Miasmata, by IonFx, is just such a game. The premise is very simple: a plague is ravaging humankind. You play as Robert Hughes, a researcher who is slowly dying from the plague as well. You've been sent to the tropical island of Eden, a veritable treasure trove of medicinal plants. There's supposed to be a whole team of researchers working on this problem and they've even figured out how to synthesize the cure. Unfortunately, they're all dead, apparently murdered by . . . well, someone. It's your job to explore the island, find the plants you need, and create the cure the world needs. But that won't be easy, because not only are you in a weakened state, thanks to the plague, but there's a creature stalking you, ready to destroy you.

So let's talk about the good parts of this game, and there are a lot of them. First of all, it's gorgeous. The graphics are well done and there are some fun ecosystems to explore.

The fact that your character is sick can be frustrating, but in a good way. Because he's infected with the plague, there's the constant danger of running a fever (which can prove lethal if left untreated). The character is also weakened from the plague, meaning that you can't run far or for long and swimming is pretty much a no go. You can temporarily boost your strength and endurance by mixing the right medicines together and even permanently boost your abilities by creating the right drugs.

Finding the different plants is a great puzzle. Most of the plants can be used in some way, the most plentiful being used for basic medicine. But half the fun was stumbling across the rarer plants that are scattered across the island. Part of the challenge, though, is bringing the plants you find back to the various labs that are set up throughout the island. Your weakened state can make that difficult, as can the creature that pops up from time to time.

Let's talk about the creature. The first time I spotted it, I nearly jumped out of my chair. It's a nasty beasty, one that can stalk you through the tall grass. There's really no way to defeat it. You just have to hide and hope that it eventually will get bored and leave you alone.

But here's something I didn't expect: cartography! When the game starts out, your map is mostly blank. And it's a big island and very easy to get lost in. The only way to keep track of where you are is to triangulate your position. You find two landmarks that you have on your map, and boom, you know where you are. And it works in reverse as well: if there's an unfamiliar landmark in the area, if you can pinpoint your position, you can figure out where the other one is too. I often got wrapped up in plotting the location of statues, ruins, and tents on my map, partially because it was fun, but it was also a way to make sure I didn't get lost again. One time, I was so caught up in plotting the nearby statues that the creature snuck up behind me and knocked me off a cliff. Not cool, man. Not cool.

For all the great points of this game, there are some drawbacks. For one thing, the creature doesn't show up quite nearly enough for my taste. Yes, it was worrisome when it did, but I could go for long stretches without even a hint of the beast.

Second, the game seems incomplete. The mystery of the murdered researchers is never really solved. They're all dead and obviously, someone killed them, but you never learn who or why or where the murderer went. I expected to at least learn that much but I never did. Also, there are references to making anti-hallucination agents, but I never was able to and, strangely, I never had to either. Maybe in a future patch?

And third, the game is kind of buggy. There's no real way to pause the game except by bringing up the control panel, but if you do that for too long, the game crashes. There were other times when the game would just crash on me for no apparent reason, mostly when I was starting out.

But here's the thing: this entire game was programmed by two guys. Two! That alone makes this game an impresive feat. You can get the game on Steam, and I really suggest you do. It's a great puzzle and a fun time. Just watch out for the creature!

A Throne of Bones

It took me a while to get through Vox Day's latest tome, A Throne of Bones, mostly because it's about three times as long as most of the books I read and, well, Christmas was in there too. Plus, it was on my Kindle, which seems to not be handling the current Minnesota winter all that well. But I finally made it through and I'm really glad I did.

Set in the ancient world of Selenoth, A Throne of Bones weaves an epic tale of political intrigue, war, and epic confrontations of good and evil. There are the intrigues in Amorr, where the Valerian family is trying to deal with their rivalry with the Severans. One Valerian, Corvus, finds himself thrust into the political spotlight while his son, Marcus, becomes the head of a legion in a dangerous time. Not only that, but Amorr is in chaos due to the death of the Sanctiff (an analogue of the pope in the world of Selenoth). But outside Amorr, things are no better. Wolf-men are invading the land of the reavers to the north, forcing them to seek help from their former victims, the people of Savondir. And through it all, an ancient evil is stirring, one that could completely destroy all the races.

So let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. This is the first book in Marcher Lord Press's Hinterlands imprint, one designed for more mature audiences. As the bookstore website puts it:

Hinterlands books may contain vulgarity, profanity, nudity, and/or sexual content, but never for gratuitous purposes.

So going into this, I knew what I was going to find: not your typical Christian fiction content. More mature stuff. Maybe some vulgar language, some sex stuff, and I was braced and ready. Quite the controversy has started over this new imprint. Now, having finished the book, I can give an honest opinion on the whole deal.

Meh.

I honestly don't see what the big deal is. Is there some vulgar language? Yes, but not an overwhelming amount. Is there some sex in the book? Well, yeah, but between two married people and really, there wasn't much to it. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't see anything in this book to really get upset over.

So is it a good story? Yes, I think it was. It was epic in every manner of the word. Lots of characters, some rather big ideas, and big battle scenes. The characters were well crafted and interesting. Funny thing was, I kept getting the feeling that the "good guys" were all on the wrong side of the conflict. I don't know why, but that's just the feeling I got, especially with Corvus.

Now not everything is perfect with the story. While it is engaging an interesting, it didn't really seem to get out of first gear until about two-thirds of the way through. A lot of it seemed like an extensive prologue to help us understand the world and how it all was put together. It's not until Corvus starts to piece together who is doing what and why that the plot really starts to gel and pulled me along. I'm not saying that the plot elements before that were bad. Far from it. But it wasn't quite as engaging because we didn't know what the stakes were or who all the players were either.

My only other gripe relates to timeline. There were some odd chapter break choices, I thought. Without dropping any spoilers, I'd be reading . . . let's call it Storyline A. The chapter would end, Storyline B would take over and cover some time, and when we came back to Storyline A, it would pick up right where it left off. It was a little odd, but I got used to it.

So all in all, it's a good read but probably not for everyone. Personally, I'm looking forward to book #2.