Old Testament Space Opera

Monday Review: Nineteen Eighty-Four

2012-01-23T21:49:00.000+01:00

It was quite a year, 1984. It was the year that Frankie said Relax, and for Admiral Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise, the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many, and they went off in search of Spock.

It was the year of Ghostbusters, the Space Shuttle Discovery, Torvill and Dean, and African famine.

Madonna was on the verge of world domination with the release of Like a Virgin, as was Clive Sinclair in his field of expertise with the Spectrum+. Both of these were to have some significance as I plunged irrevocably towards teenagerhood, as was the fact that 1984 was when my family upped and left the home of my childhood for what seemed like a far less desirable place a stones throw from Birmingham.

It’s fair to say I have mixed feelings about that year and its legacy, and maybe that’s why it has taken me so long to read its official biography by George Orwell.And, now that I have, I have mixed feelings about that too.

It was kinda hard to get into at first, took a while before the descriptive/info-dumping phase finished and Winston met his co-protagonist Julia, and their somewhat stop-start illicit affair began in whatever moments they could snatch away from the prying eyes of Big Brother.Then that gets interrupted by a big chunk of the book (The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism by Emmanual Goldstein), which although supposedly some sort of Bible for the more rebellious drones of the Party, was very dull and much harder to wade through than the actual story.

And in the last part of the book, Julia and Winston are caught, separated, tortured and finally rehabilitated into life under the Party. From a plot perspective, this is where most of the interesting stuff happens, much of it I found reminiscent of scenes from The Prisoner (good 1960s original, not crappy Hollywood remake).

On the subject of plot, it should be noted that not very much actually happens. It’s something of a fall and rise of Winston Smith (or possibly it’s a rise and fall?), precipitated by his befriending Julia. But for all the shortfalls of the plot, there is no denying that the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four speaks loud and clear into the ~~Airstrip One~~ Britain of 2012. We are all too familiar with the concept of Big Brother; Newspeak of a sort is taking ova thx 2 txt msgs; and even perpetual war does not take a massive leap of imagination.

In fact, with the exception of the extreme sexual repression under the Party, much about the world of 1984 is alarmingly plausible from the outset:

The pen was an archaic instrument, seldom used even for signatures... Apart from very short notes, it was usual to dictate everything into the speak-write…

And by pen, Winston is not referring to the type of ink-pencil I usually use these days, but one with a proper nib and everything. Very prescient, in the details as in the bigger picture, and for that reason a definite must-read. I would have to say, however, it’s probably not a must-read again.

Badly thought out Despair of the Week

2012-01-20T12:07:00.000+01:00

I wasn't going to make a habit of this, but I saw this video on geekologie.com and, honestly, it was too good (ie bad) to ignore. It's straight out of the '90s, when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Vanilla Ice (apparently) were at the peak of their powers, and is a prime example of Christians sticking their beards into what other people's children should or should not be watching on TV and getting for Christmas.

They do make one good point in the course of the video, but I'm not convinced the Mickey Mouse comic with the ouija board in was contemporary with the rest of the stuff.

I suspect it's been cut to make them look even more stupid than they would otherwise -

What's the problem with this guy [Vanilla Ice]?
MC Hammer is certainly not a role model we as Christians should emulate, though he claims to be a Christian.

Actually, the thought of these guys doing the Hammer dance, I think he may have a point after all. Although I'm still curious as to what the problem with Vanilla Ice actually was.

Anyway, my point, besides ruthlessly mocking these muppets, is that this kind of thing actually happens in real life - Christians decrying things they have only a passing knowledge of, like the Harry Potter phenomenon (which must have made these guys' heads explode) that many condemned on the basis of what Mavis said about it after church last week.

I have no problem with people having a genuine problem with the way some stuff is marketed these days - the fact that you can pick up Playboy branded stationary on the High Street, blatantly aimed at the average schoolgirl, is a bit of a worry - but you might at least try watching these things before telling us all why they're evil.

What I have a problem with is people like these, who (a) make Christians out to be a bunch of opinionated killjoys; (b) seem to think children can't tell the difference between an animated pizza-eating reptile and real life; and (c) are probably so wrapped up in seeing the devil behind every successful TV franchise that they've completely missed the real problems in the world.

Next week: I attempt to stop ranting and get this blog back on topic - tune in to see if I succeed!

Daily Mail Despair of the Week

2012-01-09T23:53:00.001+01:00

Apparently, Peppa Pig is a bad influence on children. According to the Daily Mail:

One father spoke of his despair at how his four-year-old son had taken to splashing in what he gleefully called ‘muddy puddles’ on his way to school - copying Peppa's favourite pastime.

I wish I lived in a world where that was the biggest problem facing society. Kids are being forced to grow up too quickly anyway these days, without causing despair or having their favourite TV characters banned for, um, being children!

Let's get a few things straight to start with:

Peppa always puts her wellies on before jumping up and down in those muddy puddles (don't get me started on the fact that she's a pig)
Puddle jumping is often enjoyed as a fun activity for the whole family. Heaven forbid.
Out in the fresh air, no less.
George may ask for chocolate cake for breakfast, but to my knowledge he never gets it.
One episode even gives a handy tutorial in making salad more appealing to kids by forming it into the shape of a dinosaur.
I've given this far too much thought haven't I?
Peppa is a pig.

Maybe I have given this too much thought, but seriously? A kid jumps in a puddle or asks for chocolate instead of broccoli and all you can do is lash out at a cartoon pig?

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying we should let our kids have chocolate cake for breakfast, but experience tells me that if we don't let our children have small amounts of chocolate cake under close supervision, they will end up binge-eating it down the park with those unruly kids from the next street.

And it never stops with chocolate cake. Oh no, it will soon progress to Mississippi Mud Pie and Black Forest Gateaux, and before you know it they'll be hopped up on a cocktail of banoffee pie and treacle sponge, indulging in wild, cake-fuelled orgies ofunashamed muddy puddle-jumping.

Surely we, as parents, have a duty to educate our children, to show them that things like cake - and cartoons - can be highly enjoyable, in the right context.

I mean come on, everyone loves jumping up and down in muddy puddles!

Enjoy Peppa Pig responsibly

For the facts about excessive cake consumption visit www.cakeaware.co.uk

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article... meh.

Sci-fi Song of the Week

2011-12-20T08:56:00.000+01:00

Hmmmm let's see, we need a sci-fi song for the week before Christmas. I wonder if we could possibly find something suitable, possibly involving Fountains of Wayne....

Spam and muppets

2011-12-15T21:58:00.001+01:00

I always knew this. That's why I wrote Countless as the Stars. But now the nice science & sci-fi gurus at io9.com have said it too, so it's about as official as it's going to get (probably):

Adding 'in space' to anything makes it better!

A case in point:

So there you go. Um, not to say that Countless as the Stars is actually better than the original... oh dear, ever wish you'd never started down a train of thought?

Still, there's time to get part one of The Bible: In Space (at least, if you live in the UK) before Christmas and make up your own minds ;)

It makes a great gift too.

Sci-fi Song of the Week

2011-12-13T13:00:00.001+01:00

Let's see, we need a sci-fi related song - I'm feeling a little space-y this week - for two weeks before Christmas. I feel sure thing exists - perhaps in Japan...?

CSFF Blog Tour: Corus the Champion

2011-12-07T21:32:00.001+01:00

So today concludes the blog tour for Corus the Champion by D Barkley Briggs, a book I haven't read, but don't take that as a bad thing as my opinion of fantasy novels is rarely a good indication of how good they are.

I have, however, read some of the blogs on the tour, and there's a lot of people saying a lot of nice things about it. Here are just a few posts that may be of interest:
Shannon McDermott digs into the religion in the story;
Bruce Hennigan compares it to Tolkien, no less;
John Otte gives us a writing prompt (sorry, I don't think I'll be taking that one up); and
Mharvi points us in the direction of a rather large blooper.

You should also check out the author's website, and his blog, and then all the rest of the tour participants listed at the foot of yesterday's post.

Tuesday Tunes: The Chorus of Champions

2011-12-06T21:02:00.001+01:00

You see what I did there? It's the blog tour for Corus the Champion, see, and it's Tuesday, which means tunes, so... Anyway, here's the Top Ten Champion Choons.

10. Top Cat: Champion Deejay
One of Hanna-Barbera's more enduring hip-hop artists, despite initially having to change his name to Boss Cat in the UK for copyright reasons.

9. The Low Anthem: Champion Angel
You know, now I come to think about it, I'm not actually sure Hanna-Barbera even had a record label.

8. Hypnotic Brass Ensemble: Champion
I can say with reasonable certainty that no Top Ten has yet had 3 and a half minutes of, well, brass, but who knows, we could be setting a precedent.

7. Hammerfall: The Champion
Because you gotta love Swedish rock music. Unfortunately this track is about a minute and a half longer than strictly necessary.

6. The Polyphonic Spree: The Championship
Continuing the quest for eclecticism, have some choral symphonic pop rock. At least, that's what the interweb calls it, but I'm sure it was wrong about that Top Cat thing.

5. The Chevin: Champion
There's something a bit U2 about this track, at least if you cover your ears and squint.

4. Reverend and the Makers: Heavyweight Champion of the World
And he's probably not even a real vicar, just some bloke from Sheffield, whatever the interweb tells you.

3. Fatboy Slim: Champion Sound
The bloke doing the vocals on this is Lateef the Truthseeker. I wonder if he knows Top Cat?

2. Wire: Champs
That's more like it: good old fashioned British punk rock. It might be less than two minutes long, but at least you know where you stand.

1. Jonathan Coulton: We Are The Champions
Well if the interweb is to be believed, this was really written by some bloke called Freddie Mercury, but we all know how reliable that is, so here's the original version by the original geek-rocker.

Spotify the Top Ten now - you know it makes sense.

And don't forget that all this jolliness is part of the CSFF Blog Tour for Corus the Champion by D Barkley Briggs, which continues this way:
Gillian Adams Noah Arsenault Beckie Burnham CSFF Blog Tour Carol Bruce Collett Theresa Dunlap Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Victor Gentile Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Marzabeth Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen John Otte Donita K Paul Sarah Sawyer Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Fred Warren Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Rachel Wyant

Sci-fi Song of the Week

Because he finished our Top Ten, and because it just ain't Christmas 'til you've heard Chiron Beta Prime.

CSFF Blog Tour: Corus the Champion by D Barkley Briggs

2011-12-05T19:19:00.001+01:00

As a way of easing myself back into the world of blogging after an intense month of novelling, and prior to easing myself backout of it again for Christmas, there is a conveniently timed CSFF Blog Tour, for, as the more astute reader will have realised, Corus the Champion, by D Barkley Briggs.

Corus the Champion is the second title in the Legends of Karac Tor series, which Briggs wrote as a tale his four sons could relate to as they dealt with the loss of their mother. The Legends of Karac Tor tells the tale of four brothers who, 'while struggling to adjust to life without mom, become enmeshed in the crisis of another world. Along the way they must find their courage, face their pain, and never quit searching for home.'

I've made this point before, when the tour happened upon the first book in the series, but I'll make it again because it's a good point (and also I haven't done the homework). The point that strikes me about that is how the author used his talent to help his kids, and by extension, others in the same situation - thus bringing something good out of a bad situation.

We writerly types are always encouraged to write about what we know, and as I've taken a look back over the editorial notes I've been carefully excising from my NaNo script, I'm seeing ways I can use my own bad situations to add depth to that story (as I tried to last year, with the first draft of Project Seven, which will likely never be revived). Writing for me is sometimes a therapeutic attempt to work through my own dark side, and if at the same time I can help someone else out of the same situation - or stop someone getting into it - then it helps me make sense of it.

And, just maybe, it will show that even writers of fantasy novels can make a difference.

And now it's your turn, make a difference to these lovely people by stopping off at their blogs:
Gillian Adams Noah Arsenault Beckie Burnham CSFF Blog Tour Carol Bruce Collett Theresa Dunlap Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Victor Gentile Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Marzabeth Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen Sarah Sawyer Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Fred Warren Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Rachel Wyant

NaNoWriWeekFive

2011-12-02T20:47:00.000+01:00

Yes, it's that time of year when thousands of word weary novelists emerge blinking into the cold harsh light of reality, sleep deprived but with another first draft under their belts.

And, yes, as you will have gathered, I made it to the required 50,000 words (50,591 in 29 days, for the record), but I'm not sure the novel is finished. I write the final chapter - sort of - but most of the preceding chapters need a lot of doctoring to properly lead up to that point and tell the story I want to tell.

It is, it has to be said, a mess at the moment. The original concept got a little bent out of shape in the process of being written, and a lot of the earlier chapters need to be completely re-written or just dumped entirely; and there are a lot of editorial notes and so on that need to be extracted and turned into fiction somehow, so the whole thing is still a very long way from finished.

This has been, I think, the first time I have attempted to write something of this length without more than a vague idea where it was going, hence the quantity of about turns and footnotes, but despite all that, it shaped up, over the course of the month, to be something I actually like. It changed a little from the original urban fantasy feel when my protagonist finally revealed his back story to me during a 1000 word sprint on my penultimate night of novelling, but starting out with that element of weirdness in it allowed me to get the story down, and I'm fairly confident that with a little work this can be something worthwhile.

Now all that remains is to unlock my inner editor, and set about the second draft...

NaNoWriWeekFour

2011-11-24T23:48:00.001+01:00

As of the now, I am officially ahead of target. By 8 words, but this month, every word counts. And it's the first time since Day Five that I have been ahead of the game, so all in all the last few days have gone well. Sort of.

The plot is starting to come together. It's got exciting action, some interesting plot twists, a completely unnecessary zombie apocalypse, psychic vampires, and two female characters I keep interchanging with each other at random. Ok, I admit it, it's a mess. I had to retcon most of the plot yesterday when I started to work out what was going on, and since then chapters have been springing up in the middle of the manuscript with only a vague idea of where they belong. And there are two action-y sub-plots, and the one that ends at the end of the novel has far less climactic potential than the one that ends on the way to the first one...

Oh yes, and one of my characters has served no real purpose in the story yet. That's a whole mess of sub-plot to be woven in once I've extracted two of the prologues and got the main story timeline sorted (I'm fairly sure someone was wearing a bikini in October). But that's all part of the fun. All I have to do now is stay above the line for a few more days....

NaNoWriWeekThree

2011-11-17T10:41:00.001+01:00

By some miracle, I managed to start week three on exactly 20,000 words - that's just a day behind - and having written at least something every day of the month. This is good. My pace has slowed a little over the last few days, but things are starting to fall into place. Setting off with only a nebulous concept of what I was hoping to do and say with the story has certainly presented its problems, but just charging onwards and letting the characters - and any momentary whim that takes the author - dictate what happens has, in a round about way, brought many weird and wacky plot threads into the story and forced them to play nicely.

As a result, my NaNoWriMo project is currently 23,493 words of jumbled plot threads, editorial notes and redundant scenes, interspersed with the occasional spark of potential.

Now, and only now, I am starting to get some idea of what this story looks like. My inner editor is craving to go back and re-write some of the earlier sections so that they fit the 'big picture' that I can see now. Most of my characters don't have names yet; many don't even exist, it's as if my world has a population of about 6 people at the moment. More bit-part characters are needed!

Most worryingly, however, is that at the current pace the story will be reaching its climax somewhere around half way to the magic 50,000. But thus far I've concentrated on the story of one of my main characters; I know there is at least one more side of the story to tell - and then the various side plots and tangents that may bring up to be followed, so success is still in sight.

Why I do NaNo

2011-11-10T00:23:00.001+01:00

It is, I imagine, a popular and important question at around this time of the year. It certainly is here; I've already found myself sleep-typing on two separate occasions already this month, and now I'm compounding the problem by trying to blog at the same time.
(Actually it's just an excuse to point out the shiny new widget that should now be adorning the sidebar.)
Anyway... Yes, it's insane. Yes, 90% of what I've written is rubbish. Yes, I'm sleep deprived, and the house is cleaning deprived. So why do I do it?

Well it's fun. The camaraderie. The fact that you can ask 10,000 other NaNites how to spell camaraderie. (I've written 3,007 words today, I've lost the will to spell.) The fact that, somewhere on the NaNoWriMo website, all of human life is represented. The fact that some questions get answered in the forums and then the asker refuses to believe the answer on the basis that it does not tally with their experience. The fact that said question did, ultimately, restore my faith in the moral sensibleness of at least some young people in this country. Hurrah!
I'm a deadline junky. The only way I will ever finish a first draft of something approaching novel length is to do it in November.
In a very practical, writerly way, I do find that plunging straight into a novel NaNo-style is a quick and easy way to see if the idea has legs. For instance, I tried a novel for Camp NaNoWriMo earlier in the year, quickly found it wasn't going to go anywhere as I had envisaged it, and gave up. November I take more seriously and try not to give up like that; but this month I got to about 8,500 words of crap before working out vaguely where the story should be going, and it seems to be picking up now.
Peer pressure. It does seem to work: this evening an hour of word wars boosted my word count by the required 1667 (and then some) and left me with a messy jumble of plot twists and potential new directions to let my characters (most of whom don't have proper names yet) explore in later chapters.

NaNoWriMo is certainly not for everyone, and it is completely insane, but I've found a way to make it work for me. I think it's going to be an annual event for some time yet...

Bring on November...

2011-10-31T22:19:00.000+01:00

So it's almost November... time to think about a plot, right?

The public vote was inconclusive, and left me to ponder four options:

An Old Testament Space Opera. Nice to see my very own sub-sub-genre make a last minute surge through the field, but ultimately, although it's the most ready-to-roll of the four outlines, I'm not finished with the last one yet, so I'll hold off for another year before starting another.
A Comic Fantasy. A sequel to DragonQuest is very much ready to tumble out of my mind, but I decided to leave this for outside NaNo, when fun writing projects like this can help keep my writing muscles going without the crazed NaNo momentum.
A Timey-wimey story with Jesus in it. Another last minute attacker, but unfortunately it needed too much planning, so this is also left on the back-burner.
An Urban Fantasy (with shades of Angel). Yep, I'm going to write a fantasy novel! Well, more a supernatural thriller, I suspect. It's going to be almost 100% winging it this time - here's what I have to go on so far:

Dark Empathy

Mordikai Stone is a man with an unusual talent. Able to experience complete empathy with anyone he touches, and more than that, take the pain and suffering of others on himself. Armed only with his constantly shifting perception of the world, he sets about a self-appointed mission to cure anguish and suffering wherever he finds it. But a chance meeting with a woman he once helped brings Mordikai to a shocking realisation: his attempts to help may be causing more harm than good.

CSFF Blog Tour: The Bone House by Stephen Lawhead

2011-10-26T20:47:00.000+01:00

Just time today for me to point you at a few highlights from the tour...

It seems that a recurring theme has been that of how 'Christian' The Bone House is - you know, being from a Christian publisher and all. Thomas Clayton Booher is on the 'make Christian novels Christian' camp; Becky Miller puts the case that religion is growing in importance in the Bright Empires series.

Elsewhere:

Jeff Chapman introduces us to Thomas Young, one of the 'real' historical figures to have a supporting role in the Bright Empires series
Bruce Hennigan reviews the book by likening Mina to G'Kar from Babylon 5 (he does other stuff too, but this is a sci-fi blog!)
Shannon McDermott bravely tackles the intersection of Christianity and the multiverse concept (I'll have to can of worms that, it's too late in the day...)
Jason Joyner accuses the author of having a British narrative style - I hadn't really thought about that, but when I come to review the book, I will try and remember to do so
Robert Treskillard gives a detailed review - other reviews are available, check the following blogs:

Noah Arsenault Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse CSFF Blog Tour Jeff Chapman Carol Bruce Collett Karri Compton D. G. D. Davidson Theresa Dunlap April Erwin Victor Gentile Tori Greene Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Janeen Ippolito Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Marzabeth Katie McCurdy Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Joan Nienhuis Chawna Schroeder Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Fred Warren Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Rachel Wyant

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

2011-10-25T20:13:00.000+01:00

It seems like a while since I've done this, so without any further ado, let us celebrate the CSFF Blog Tour for The Bone House with.... the Top Ten Bone songs:

10. Guns n' Roses: Dust n' Bones
And we start with some classic 80s hard rock - contains a swear near the end. (Those naughty rockers eh?)

9. The White Stripes: Bone Broke
A nice loud blues rock number by Jack White and his, er, female relative of some sort.

8. The Raconteurs: Store Bought Bones
A nice loud alt rock number by Jack White and a few musician pals.

7. Elbow: The Bones of You
They should have renamed themselves 'Funny Bone' just for today, in a vague attempt to be humerus...

6. Radiohead: Bones
For some reason, bone themed songs seem to be more popular in the indie/rock genres than elsewhere. So here's some from somewhere near Kit Livingston's home town. Probably.

5. Brian Eno: Bone Jump
Electronic offerings are thin on the ground this week, but here's a practically non-existent ambient piece from the master of the art.

4. Alice in Chains: Them Bones
Heavy metal meets grunge - turn it up to eleven!

3. George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Bad to the Bone
Theme tune to the movie 'Christine'. I had a car called Christine once. Evil it was. And a Mini.

2. The Dead Weather: Bone House
Well, it had to be didn't it? And, hang on, isn't that Jack White again?

1. The Kinks: Skin and Bone
A warning against extreme dieting, in Ray Davies' inimitable style:
She don't eat no mashed potatoes,She don't eat no buttered sconesStay away from carbohydratesYou're gonna look like skin and bone.

Almost forgot, which would be a shame now Spotify has reached the colonies: The Playlist!

Don't forget to visit the rest of the CSFF Blog Tour (full list yesterday) as they look at The Bone House by Stephen Lawhead.

Sci-fi song of the week

It was in the Top Ten Bone songs; it was also in Terminator 2 (I need your coat, your bike, and your underpants, that bit). It's George Thorogood and the Destroyers....

CSFF Blog Tour: The Bone House by Stephen Lawhead

2011-10-24T21:09:00.000+01:00

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received an ebook copy of The Bone House courtesy of the publisher.

Independently of the CSFF Blog Tour, my laptop chucked a hissy fit and banished said ebook to the more inaccessible reaches of cyberspace, and refused to allow me a re-download in time to read it for the tour.

And so it has transpired that if you want to read my review of the book as part of the official tour, you will have to jump a handy ley-line and try to hit the seventh sphinx on the left. Which, it has to be said, is kind of a shame, because the first volume in the Bright Empires saga, The Skin Map, was actually rather good, and the sequel - at least as much of it as the technology would allow me to read - seemed to be following in the same vein.

The Bone House continues the story of Kit Livingston, following his (at the time) inexplicable rescue from the depths of a pyramid somewhere by his once-useless girlfriend, Mina, who unbeknown to Kit, became a dimension-hopping Lara Croft at some point. That is not a plot-hole, mind; this is a time travel story, and that Mina's transformation from drippy girlfriend to Prague coffee entrepreneur to time travelling heroine is initially unexplained serves only to reinforce the reader's empathy for the bemused Kit, who thought the quest was his to complete.

On his website, Lawhead describes the Bright Empires series as his most ambitious work to date; given the variety of locations, time periods and POV characters the one and a bit books I've read so far cover, I can well believe that. There is certainly a lot going on; sometimes I get bogged down trying to keep track of all the threads and characters in a sweeping epic like this, but so far I think Bright Empires is striking a nice balance for my taste (and attention span).

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the whole timey-wimey nature of the story is just my cup of tea to start with, but suffice to say, I will be leaving The Bone House on my Christmas list (yes, I'm old skool. No kindle here). And I will review it properly, at some point in the future; don't wait for that though, take a nose round the rest of the tour, then get yourself a copy (I recommend the ley-line friendly hardback edition).

Some NaNoWriMo prep thoughts

2011-10-21T23:41:00.000+01:00

It is an important and popular fact that the author of this blog does not do fantasy. I have no frame of reference for orcs and hobbits like I do for spaceships and time travel.

Which of course is why the most popular choices on the 'What the public wants me to write for NaNo' poll are labelled 'urban fantasy' and 'comic fantasy'. Admittedly the comic fantasy option - a sequel to 2009's DragonQuest - owes more to cyberpunk than it does to Lord of the Rings, but still, I think the world is out to get me. As it happens though, those are currently my two favoured options as far as having the story planned out go; none of the shortlist are much more than ideas, but those two are more fully-formed ideas, ready to be built on in the last few days of October.

At the same time, I'm keeping a wary eye on the wildcard option - the 'grab stuff other NaNites didn't want and run with it' option. That could be a lot of fun, especially if I can find a plot I like and mash it up with fairies and aliens, but on the other hand, do I want to spend 30 days writing somebody else's idea at the expense of eight of my own? Well, maybe I do. The reason I do NaNo is to recharge my writing batteries, get back in the mood for novelling, remind myself what great ideas I have on my WIPlist still wanting to be written. Maybe, having got the bug back, knowing I have at least two ideas ready to be worked on and at least half a dozen more to keep thinking about, I'll keep writing more consistently over the next eleven months.

Plus, I just read about the Egyptian mummies buried under our McDonalds.... surely that has to be a story!?

Tuesday Tunes: Right Here In This Room by Steve Leach

2011-10-18T23:00:00.000+01:00

You may not be aware of Steve Leach; he's a DJ from Bournemouth, and his speciality, according to the CD cover, is 'big bass lines, beats and general noisiness, allowing powerful messages to be emphasised musically'. So what we have here is, essentially, a selection of talks by well-known Christian speakers, sampled and remixed over the aforementioned big beats and synth-heavy noisiness.

Right Here In This Room starts out with the fairly low-key 'Free For All', and picks up pace until 'Dry Bones' - Steve Chalke reading from Ezekiel - where the music gets a little more interesting, very much in keeping with the theme of the talk.

Part-way through we get to take a breather with the message-lite, melodic and laid back ‘Do You Remember’, before we're thrown into Cris Rogers' much more excitable, upbeat, talk based from the persepctive of Simon Peter, encouraged to start a revolution by Louie Giglio, and then my current favourite driving track, 'v4'. Verse 4 of what, I still haven't managed to figure out, but it's loud, full of bass and a stirring message: 'What are you gonna pray for? What are you gonna step out of this place to fight for?'

It is the messages that really make this CD. We have Matt Redman telling us that 'He's a good God to have around' (The Way Through), and on 'More?' Louie Giglio's ironic take on asking for God's blessings: 'You don’t even know what to do with what you have!'

If I'm completely honest, Steve Leach is no Fatboy Slim; but obviously you would have heard of him if he was. But in the liner notes he says 'I wanted to lead worship that connected more with the real world in which I live, rather than the Christian bubble in which I spent each Sunday morning plus maybe a week in the summer'. And as someone who would rather spend Sunday morning on a back-lane blast to and from a car show with some bass-heavy beats pumping out of the Mini than singing in church, I'd have to say he connects with my world pretty well too.

Scifi Song of the Week

On a similar electronic tip, but a bit more old skool: it's The Prodigy, taking our brains to another dimension...

Monday Review: Afterlife - The Resurrection Chronicles by Merrie DeStefano

2011-10-17T21:02:00.000+01:00

Afterlife is a bit of a schizophrenic book. The cover is all neo-Twilight urban fantasy, but the premise is definitely more psuedo-science than traditional fantasy.To explain: Afterlife is set in New Orleans some time in the future, where science has found a way to instantly transport your dead soul into a cloned body. Up to nine times, which seems somewhat arbitrary, and the whole resurrection process was never really explained to my satisfaction (probably should have left it in the realms of urban fantasy, I think). Cue a philosophical sci-fi thriller dealing with cloning, immortality and religious faith (yes, there are nominally Christian characters in there, puzzling these things over).From the blurb:

Chaz Dominguez is a professional Babysitter in New Orleans, helping to integrate the recently deceased into their new and improved lives. Though Fresh Start has always been the only game in town, resurrection isn't all it's cracked up to be. Nine lives are all a person can get—and a powerful group of desperate, high-level Nine-Timers will stop at nothing to possess the keys to true immortality.Now the only hope for Chaz and his family—and the human race—lies in the secrets locked away in the mind of Angelique, the beautiful, mysterious Newbie he must protect . . .

Afterlife presents (insufficient science notwithstanding) an interesting premise, an undoubtedly interesting world, and what should have been an interesting and action-filled plot, but then, at times I just didn't get it. The multiple POV characters I can cope with, for instance, unless you make one of them a dog. And I'm not sure where the 'Resurrection Chronicles' thing comes from, as it was all wrapped up mighty neatly at the end of this book!

So much for the quibbles though; is it any good? Well, it's actually not bad, unless you were expecting Twilight, in which case you'll likely be baffled by all the science-fictiony stuff that sneaks in. If you ignore the cover and take my word for it that this is actually a dystopian story in which the 'ideal' world, where near immortality is available to all, has gone horribly, terribly wrong, then you might get a kick out of it.

A Christian sci-fi/fantasy reader looking for something thought-provoking but non-threatening to recommend to a friend might find the subjects of immortality, faith and science gone bad as covered in this story will provide good copnversation starters.Afterlife is definitely something different; I'm still not quite sure what it is, but it's different, and that's got to be worth something.

The NaNoWriMo auditions

2011-10-10T22:48:00.000+01:00

The middle of October is, without a doubt, the stupidest time to reboot a blog after two months, especially for someone planning to put some pretty intense novel-writing time in in the not too distant future. (Yes, I could say I'll blog about my NaNo expolits, but that's never really washed before, has it?)

So, yes, I'm back for now, but I will be NaNo-ing next month, so in the meantime, why not cast a vote, X-Factor style, for one of the final nine novel ideas all hoping for a place in next months big write-off...

Another Old Testament Space Opera. I don’t have another in the works as yet, but it has the clear advantage of having the basic plot pre-packed.
Some sort of timey-wimey story, either time travel or alternate history, in which Christ's life on Earth forms a critical point.
An alternate history of WW2. I have sort of an idea for this, but I’m not sure I can make it stand out from the squillions of alternate WW2 scenarios already played out in fiction. Unless….
An alternate version of Left Behind – in which the rapture occurred during WW2, or the Crimean, or the Cold War, or what the heck, all three….
A comic fantasy, probably using some of the characters from the seminal DragonQuest (NaNo 2009). Being silly is always easier at NaNo pace than tackling a weighty subject.
A weighty subject novel. Did that last year, still trying to summon up the courage to trawl those 50,000 words for the worthwhile story at its heart.
An urban fantasy with just the merest hint of Angel somewhere in its DNA, and possibly some spiritual message in there too.
The obligatory sci-fi contender: I fancy something with clones in it this time.
Or as a completely off the wall experimental NaNo: just pluck some stuff at random from the adoptables threads, mix them all together and bring them to the boil…

Voting lines are open, and it won't cost you a thing to vote... and who knows, maybe you'll even get to see a snippet from your favourite on these pages during November...

It's like the bad old days again....

2011-08-05T19:50:00.000+01:00

Yeah, just when it seemed we had some sort of rhythm going on here, I go and make a stupid rash decision...

So we're back to erratic posting for a few weeks while I'm at Camp NaNoWriMo. It seemed a good idea at the time, as I was spending time writing anyway, why not channel that into one big project....

It's only when I start something like this, usually in November, that I realise how big a number 50,000 actually is, at least when you're trying to write that many words in a finite time.

Currently I'm at almost 4,000 words... yes, behind already! Yay!

So blogging is a little way down the writing priority list this month. I'll wake you up when September comes.

Monday review - The Potter Movie

2011-08-01T22:02:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure I really need to review this, any more than I did Blade Runner last week. So I guess I'll keep it brief, because you already know whether you're going to watch it (and indeed probably have).

Lots of action, tons of magic effects, the plot does a bit of a wriggle, and almost everybody dies (at least, that's the way it seems at times).

I like a dark movie. I liked Part One because it was dark. Part Two, similarly so, in an epic last stand sort of a way - and who doesn't love an epic last stand?

If you've seen the previous couple of Potter movies, this will be a satisfying climax. If you haven't, then you'd be silly to go and watch a film with 'Part 2' in the title, wouldn't you?

From the perspective of a Christian viewer, it's full of witches and wizards, and if you go to see you'll burn in hell. Obviously I'm kidding, just threw that in to confuse the google stats. There is a resurrection motif, some afterlife stuff and the whole sacrificial love thingy that made Harry Harry, which have probably been discussed to better effect elsewhere.

So there you go, a pointless review. Maybe I should make that a feature?

Tuesday Tunes: Blade Runner

2011-07-26T22:17:00.001+01:00

It must be said that no review of Blade Runner is complete without at least a passing mention of Vangelis and that awesome soundtrack.

And because I love this kind of music, especially for writing to, here's a special extra review for the soundtrack, which was also re-released in 2007, along with the Final Cut movie, in a 3-CD special edition.

Entitled Blade Runner Trilogy, the first CD is the same as the original soundtrack release, the second CD contains previously unreleased music from the movie, and the third CD is new music inspired by the movie.

Of the three, the first disc is still the best; from the fantastically spacey main title, to the chilled out sax of the love theme, to the cool end titles, the best known tracks are all here in full, along with some less well known gems. For me, the best trackshere are those which use smaples from the movie: Blush Response, with its samples about the Voight-Kampff machine, and Tears in Rain, Batty's last words, set to a suitably melancholy piece of music.

Disc two is the usual film score fair, atmospheric pieces with descriptive titles like At Mr Chew's and Deckard and Roy's Duel, but done in a Vangelis way, which is to say, pretty awesome.

Disc three, on the other hand... disc three is where things start to get odd. Good, but odd. Launch Approval and Mail from India are personal favourites for futuristic weirdness alone, but elsewhere the Blade Runner influence comes through in the music - Sweet Solitude has the same chilled sax sound as the original love theme, and Perfume Exotico has the same ethereal vocals as Rachel's Song. It could perhaps be seen as the soundtrack Vanelis would have made had the movie been shot in 2007 rather than just remixed.

For fans of sci-fi music, movie soundtracks, Vangelis, or ambient electronica in general, it's a worthwhile investment.

And for your sci-fi song of the week, you will of course be enjoying the main theme from Ghostbusters.

Monday Review: Blade Runner

2011-07-25T22:31:00.001+01:00

So, I just watched the Final Cut of Blade Runner. I don’t suppose there is really any need to review it properly, it is, after all, a classic science fiction movie.

I could join the debate about whether it’s a great movie, or just an over-hyped one, but even that is a bit redundant, because any film fan or science fiction fan really should watch the thing and make their own mind up.

Personally, well, the visuals are great – the imagining and visualisation of the dystopian world, the flying cars (that by rights we should have by now) whose strings are no longer visible on the latest remix, the constant rain…. Not quite sure why rain is so inherently dystopian, but then I’m English.

The thing is, if I didn’t know there was this mystery subtext about Deckard, I don’t think I would have spotted it, the whole origami thing being a bit too small and obscure, at least first time round. That said, the ambiguous ending of the Final Cut is better than the fluffy Hollywood ending version; the tone of Blade Runner doesn’t lend itself to a happy ending.

I’m not sure if it’s ironic or intended, but the only character that really sticks in the mind after watching is Roy Batty, as played by Rutger Hauer. That’s not to say the Harrison Ford, or Sean Young are in any way bad, but Roy’s change from angry, violent replicant-on-a-mission, to abandoned son confronting his father, to the final acceptance of his own death, is the definite stand-out.

Ah yes, the violence. There’s a lot of it in this version, I don’t remember wincing quite so much when I’ve seen earlier cuts. But this is not a happy film; not one you can switch your brain off for a couple of hours and relax with. There is a lot in Blade Runner (some of which I may revisit later) but a lot of it requires thought, and none of it is especially happy.

Perfect for a Monday review then.

So long, and thanks....

2011-07-22T21:46:00.000+01:00

So there it was. Thirty years and 134 missions, and the Space Shuttle era has officially ended.

The reason I mention this is not because I have anything startlingly original to add to the conversation, because I don’t. It’s because the Space Shuttle has undoubtedly contributed to my becoming a sci-fi fan and writer.

I was seven when the programme started – old enough to have been aware of it, too young to remember what I thought of it at the time. But in those days, the shuttle was exotic, exciting. Launches still made the news, even when they went off without a hitch.

Of course, it’s the one that didn’t go off without a hitch that I still remember. John Craven had the job of telling the nation soon after it happened. And not long after that I was given a plastic kit of the Shuttle and its Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, which I made into Challenger, seeming at the time the best tribute a pre-teenage boy could pay.

But - and I admit that what I am about to say is a little bit shallow – the reason I remember the Challenger disaster is not because of the immensity of the event, but because the Space Shuttle had captured my young imagination. I had the toy shuttle from Moonraker, I had read the specs in magazines and books, I was even, in my youth, quite proficient at drawing the Shuttle orbiter.

I’ll stop there, before I start sounding like some kind of Shuttle fanboy. At some point, of course, the routine shuttle launches stopped making the news. I stopped being a Shuttle fanboy. Arguably, I grew out of it, as did much of the media. But whatever it was about the shuttle that caught my imagination – fed by space Lego, Luke Skywalker and endless Star Trek re-runs – I never grew out of.

So, even though the Space Shuttle will always be my spaceship, I can still look with interest (and possibly a little excitement) at the developments that are already happening at Virgin Galactic, where the next generation of space travel seems to be drawing ever nearer, ready to spark the imagination of the next generation.

Of course, if I was a science-fiction writer, I would probably be wondering what space travel landmark we will be marking in 2041…

Phursday Photos: obvious subject....

2011-07-21T21:52:00.000+01:00

Well, a blog which pretends to be vaguely related to science fiction is hardly going to let the end of an era slip by unnoticed is it? I've never actually seen a space shuttle in person, so this week I'll hand the camera over to NASA...

Sci-Fi Song of the Week

2011-07-19T20:42:00.000+01:00

Inspired by Charles Yu, here some nice early 90s shoegaze rock for your enjoyment.

Monday Review: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

2011-07-18T21:30:00.001+01:00

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu, is the story of a book. In fact, it is the story of some of the minds behind the book, one of whom, the aforementioned Charles Yu, is a Recreational Time Travel Device repairman who chooses to spend most of his life hiding in limbo, living in a time machine which is not bigger on the inside, with only an imaginary dog and a manically depressed artificial intelligence for company.

This would be an appropriate moment for the reviewer to interject, and explain that the book itself is not quite as derivative of hitch-hikers as this review has been so far. There are certainly shades of Adams-esque humour (for instance, physics was only 93 per cent installed when construction was halted on Minor Universe 31), but the similarities in plot are, I think limited to those mentioned so far. The concept of a science fictional universe, of course, may also put one in mind of the Thursday Next novels, but all these comparisons are not doing the book in question any favours.

In fact, How to Live Safely is one of the most mind-bendingly original books in the whole of chronogrammatical space-time. If I was to attempt to give it a sub-genre, it would probably be literary sf, with the somewhat scant (but imaginative) plot serving primarily to hold all the author’s crazy ideas together and explore the father-son axis in a completely non-linear, temporally confusing manner.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is good, clean, science fictional fun. Movingly funny, nicely written, weirdly conceptual, insanely brilliant and… well, frankly, one of the best time travel stories I’ve read in a long time.

Current writing projects

2011-07-15T22:00:00.001+01:00

I have a few projects ticking over at the moment, but since I'm more proficient at procrastination than I am at the actual writing, I figured keeping track of how well (or otherwise) I'm doing might be some kind of encouragement.

Or perhaps not.

Still, it's not like making this little to-do list is just another way of procrastinating is it?

Ahem, anyway, without any further space filling, this weeks projects are:

Cutting more flab from DragonQuest (my '09 NaNo) in the hope of making a short story edition of it
Setting about Countless as the Stars with a red pen ready for an e-book version later in the year
Writing... still trying to turn my '10 NaNo into something worthwhile... it will happen! Watch for an update next week...

Phursday photo

2011-07-14T20:14:00.002+01:00

A little something to bend the mind of any passing petrol-heads. Go on, you know it doesn't look right!

Sci-Fi Song of the Week

2011-07-12T21:14:00.001+01:00

A tenuous link to sci-fi, maybe, but inspired by the last Space Shuttle mission which is going on at the moment...

It's a love song, in a vaguely space-age style.

Hurling myself in...

2011-07-11T21:15:00.000+01:00

As a postscript to Friday's long walk, because it wasn't as long as I had planned, I took a few moments in Wild at Heart once I was home, and this sentence just jumped out at me:

I want to hurl myself into a creative work worthy of God.

Now, I often tell myself that what I'm writing, I'm doing to honour God. But, really, the amount of time and effort that I put into actually forming sentences (other than the ones I form occasionally to justify my 'writing') is not really worthy of God. I've never really hurled myself into a story (well, maybe once a year, in November), never been reckless about what I vaguely like to think God might want me to do with what I laughably call my talent.

Maybe I didn't need a long walk; maybe I just needed to turn the page of that book, read that sentence, and act on it. Maybe I need to step out of the boat, charge the field, follow my dream. Maybe I just need to quit worrying about stuff and get on with some writing.

Long Walk 2011

2011-07-08T22:12:00.000+01:00

It is a tradition over at the Daily Audio Bible to take July 7th off, go somewhere beautiful, and spend the day with God. My intention had been to do a slight variation on the theme, and go for a long drive, take the Mini off into the countryside for the day. (The reason for this stems from Wild at Heart, something John Eldredge says about men getting closest to God when they feel most 'alive'; for him it's all manner of outdoorsy stuff, for me, it's a back-lane Mini blast.)

Unfortunately things were not as easy as all that: first there was a hospital appointment on July 7th (for my daughter) which would have taken half the day out. Still, no matter; July 8th was booked off work and the Long Drive was on. Except the aforementioned daughter was taken ill this morning. Not only that, but the rain did not look conducive to a back-lane Mini blast.

Still, as it turned out I was not required to make the trip to see the doctor, and was able to slip off for a somewhat shorter than planned walk, getting myself lost in the rolling hills of, um, Staffordshire.

I had no real idea what I was doing; I mean, the theory was simple enough - go somewhere quiet and listen to God. Easier said than done, obviously. But did I come away with anything? Well, maybe, although I'm not sure what it means, if anything.

I found myself surrounded by ferns, and as I looked at the repeatedly dividing pattern of the leaves, it occured to me that the closer you look at a fern leaf, the more detail you go into, the more accurately you can measure its outline, and the longer its outline will be.

Sass that hoopy frond

Taken to its extreme, you end up with the fractal theory argument that Britain's coastline is infinite. Plainly nonsense in practical terms, but an interesting point, that the closer you look, the more anything - a fern, a country, a person - approaches infinity. At some level, the Infinite is present right at the heart of everything.

Phursday Photo

2011-07-07T20:45:00.001+01:00

Tuesday Tunes: Space Whale Migration

2011-07-05T20:19:00.000+01:00

This weeks choice for Sci-Fi Song of the Week is, apart from not being a song in any conventional sense, inspired by yesterday's mini-review of a story about space whales. So here for your enjoyment, a little piece of shoegazey post-Porcupine Tree instrumental greatness, Space Whale Migration by The Daysleepers.

Green Lantern, and a Leviathan

2011-07-04T20:31:00.001+01:00

Has anybody got a couple of hours to listen to some excellent podcastery on the subject of religion and science-fiction? Well if you have, I have a couple of nice little links for you. And if you haven't, I recommend you make some :)

Firstly, the Leviathan in question is That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made, a Nebula winning novelette by Eric James Stone, and you can hear it on Starship Sofa Episode 194. It's a very neat little tale about some of the potential problems of bringing human religion (in this case Mormonism) to a decidedly alien race (in this case, a group of solar cetaceans living inside our sun). And this all seems to be going well for our protagonist, Harry Malan, until a swale member of his congregation confides in him about what Harry believes to be a case of sexual assault.

There follows a lot of discussion between Harry and cute scientist Dr. Juanita Merced about how human/Mormon sexuality and morals can't be applied to creatures older than human culture, and then when Harry tries to put his point to the oldest swale in our sun, things get even more interesting...

That Leviathan... is a well-written story, makes some thought-provoking points in an interesting setting, and all adds up to a fascinating exploration about the intersection of religion and 'other' cultures, definitely worth a look (or listen) if you're interested in those things.

Elsewhere in the podosphere, purveyor of Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy, Paeter Frandsen, has been geeking out over Green Lantern, who apparently is a comic book hero turned movie icon, or something. Anyway, as part of his Green Lantern special podcast he pulls some interesting Biblical parallels from comic book superheroes and wonders what the New Heaven and the New Earth will be like. Such ponderings gave me cause to wonder what kind of stories I'll be writing in the New Earth.... presumably they'll have to be set on the old one, as there won't be a lot of conflict in the new one, as I understand it....

Anyway, that's also worth a listen for an alternative angle on some Biblical stuff, and on some comic book stuff, or if you've just been overcome by Green Lantern fever....

Linky Goodness:
Starship Sofa No 194 (direct link)
That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made (text)
Spirit Blade Underground Podcast - Green Lantern Review Special (direct link)

Sci-fi Song of the Week

2011-06-28T23:11:00.000+01:00

For no other reason than I'm feeling the love for Battlestar Galactica at the moment, and this is rather a funky metal hip-hop crossover type thingy that's got a soundalike title. And no video - can't believe nobody's put a BSG montage to it on YouTube yet!

Anyway, because (for a change) I can't be bothered putting a proper post up, here's some music...

Wednesday Review: Scream by Mike Dellosso

2011-06-22T23:20:00.001+01:00

You may have noticed that this week the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour has been featuring Darkness Follows by Mike Dellosso. Naturally, I will therefore be reviewing something entirely different.

Scream is the story of Mark Stone, hard working everyman who just happens to have messed up his marriage and started hearing Hell on his telephone. It’s the story of his efforts to solve the mystery of the screams, which bring him into regular contact with the local police, and with probably the least stereotypical Pastor in all of Christian fiction. The guy has tattoos, people!

It is also the story of the faceless psycho known only as Judge, whose hobby of stalking and kidnapping innocent women and keeping them in a barn leads his plot inexorably towards Mark’s.

Aside from the wailing, weeping, and gnashing of teeth that keeps interrupting Mark’s phone calls, there’s not a lot of what I would call ‘horror’ in the story, and in fact I was more on edge for the ‘real life’ issues – the traumatic childhood incident that birthed Judge, and Mark’s marital disaster. Those things were both relatable, and written in way that highlighted their relevance and drove the point home.

There was enough suspense in the story to keep me wanting more, and although the twists were not all entirely surprising, I found them satisfying.

Part of me wants to say that Scream would work perfectly well as a straight thriller without the supernatural screaming, but the screams do serve the purposes of pulling the various plot strands together, and of reminding the reader, as they reminded Mark Stone, that death – and Hell – can come calling at any moment, and what happens to us then is something we can change – have to change – before that moment arrives. The problem is that’s all they do… I realise explaining them inexplicable would be daft, but I feel a little short-changed, I wanted more from the Scream!

Despite having an obvious message, Mike Dellosso manages to avoid being ‘preachy’, or leaving the reader with nothing more than a hellfire and brimstone message. The message is delivered as a natural part of the story (and, in case you didn’t get it from the story, helpfully recapped in an afterword by the author), and along the way the reader is presented with some interesting comparisons: our hero, ostensibly a ‘good’ person, has utterly broken his wife’s heart, while the apparently ‘evil’ Judge shows moments of human kindness towards his captives; more importantly, he presents a very real and challenging comparison between empty religion and a genuine knowledge of Jesus.

So to summarise: an important gospel message, nicely presented in a cracking story.

Noah Arsenault Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Beckie Burnham Melissa Carswell Karri Compton CSFF Blog Tour Chris Deane Cynthia Dyer Nikole Hahn Katie Hart Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Inae Kyo Shannon McDermott Allen McGraw Shannon McNear Rebecca LuElla Miller Joan Nienhuis Sarah Sawyer Kathleen Smith Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Phyllis Wheeler

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

2011-06-21T23:05:00.001+01:00

I may be running a little bit late here, but never fear, in honour of this weeks CSFF Blog Tour, which is featuring Darkness Follows by Mike Dellosso, I present to you, hurriedly thrown together ina darkened room, the Top Ten Darkness Songs.

10. The Darkness: I Believe in a Thing Called Love
Opening for us tonight, the spearhead of Suffolk's glam-rock revival in the early 21st Century.

9. The Strokes: Under Cover of Darkness
The first single from the recent album Angles. You see, I'm down with the kids.

8. Moby: Lie Down in Darkness
And a decidedly current piece of electronica this week too, this having been out for about a month... I think I need to lie down in darkness....

7. Buckethead: Chase the Darkness Out
That's better, weird ambient prog-rock by a guy with a crazy name. This I feel comfortable with.

6. Ash: Joy Kicks Darkness
This was B in their A-Z Series of singles a little while ago. Yeah, go figure.

5. Shonen Knife: The Queen of Darkness
My all-time favourite J-Rock girl band. Or something.

4. The Kinks: Little Miss Queen of Darkness
Is anybody spotting a theme within a theme?

3. Alice Cooper: Prince of Darkness
I think Alice Cooper is an immensely awesome and funny guy, so here's a song he wrote about the devil.

2. Rage Against the Machine: Darkness
It's that shouty man, getting angry about greed and Capitalism.

1. Republica: Out of the Darkness
Seems an appropriate title to finish the list with.... techno-pop punk rock for the post-Britpop generation - best played loud :)

Your Spotify playlist is here, I'll find some links for the individual songs later - except I probably won't, so while you wonder what they actually sound like, why not wander round these blogs and find out a little something about Darkness Follows and Mike Dellosso.

Noah Arsenault Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Beckie Burnham Melissa Carswell Karri Compton CSFF Blog Tour Chris Deane Cynthia Dyer Nikole Hahn Katie Hart Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Inae Kyo Shannon McDermott Allen McGraw Shannon McNear Rebecca LuElla Miller Joan Nienhuis Sarah Sawyer Kathleen Smith Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Phyllis Wheeler

CSFF Blog Tour - Darkness Follows

2011-06-20T22:31:00.000+01:00

So it seems that just because it's blog tour week and I am contractually obliged to post something loosely related to Darkness Follows by Mike Dellosso, Blogger decided to move all the buttons around on its dashboard. Yes, it's all very pretty, Blogger, and I'm sure it will improve my blogging experience no end once I'v ehad a chance to find the 'New Post' button, but couldn't you have waited a week?

Ah well, let's muddle through as best we can, shall we?

Officially: Darkness Follows is suspenseful, mysterious, scary, even creepy, but after all is said and done, it’s a love story. It’s about Sam Travis, a man who thinks he’s losing his mind. He becomes more and more obsessed with a series of mysterious journal entries from a soldier of the Civil War, entries Sam himself has written unawares. The more obsessed he becomes with the entries the more he pushes away those who care about him most, his wife and daughter. Meanwhile, Sam is also being haunted by the memory of his late brother who died a terrible death. In the end, Sam will have to make a choice, give into the darkness that’s been following him, or accept the freedom that comes from the unconditional love of his daughter and, ultimately, the love of his Father.

Unofficially, it's an American Civil War time-travel horror romance. Genre? We laugh in the face of genre! Mwahahahahaaaa!

Ahem sorry, not sure what came over me there.But look: that's where they put the HTML button! That will make pasting linky goodness easier, like this:

And the tour links:

Noah Arsenault
Red Bissell
Thomas Clayton Booher
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Chris Deane
Cynthia Dyer
Nikole Hahn
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Bruce Hennigan
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Inae Kyo
Shannon McDermott
Allen McGraw
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Joan Nienhuis
Sarah Sawyer
Kathleen Smith
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler

And finally, Mike Dellosso's website, with bloggy goodness, blurbs for all his novels, and free stuff to download. How can you resist?

Now, how do I get this thing uploaded...?

Wednesday Review: A British Crash by Roger Harper

2011-06-15T23:07:00.000+01:00

I’m taking a bit of a step outside my usual genre for this review, because… well, frankly, because a Christian novel set in England – in Birmingham, no less, somewhere I know well – deserved a look.

I will start off with a caveat though: This is a self-published novel.* This is not a bad thing; on the contrary, many outstanding novels in the field of Christian literature *cough* Countless as the Stars *cough* have been self-published. And indeed, top marks to author Roger Harper for getting the thing in front of me in the first place.

So, I hear you ask, what exactly is this thing in front of you? Well, at its heart A British Crash is a whodunit, set against predominantly a church-based background, with a Christian protagonist. A flawed Christian protagonist. Indeed, most of the Christian characters are drawn with realistic flaws – the narrator, David Jeffery, is a happily married man who unexpectedly finds himself drawn to another woman; his best friend Will has such an abrupt manner and coarse, often racist language that I found myself questioning whether he was as Christian as he made himself out to be. And, with a Muslim family at the centre of the plot – the titular crash, which is the subject of the whodunit – there is plenty of scope for this (sadly believable) racism to come to light.

The Christian elements of the story are handled interestingly – just as facts, a part of the characters routine lives just the same as work or breakfast – and that allows the author to show genuine, believable Christians interacting with Muslims, New Agers, and hot secretaries without the need for any supernatural nonsense or preachy messages getting in the way.

As an aside, I think the journal format the story is presented in is a little unnecessary. There are whole conversations and daily trivia that I don’t think likely to appear in a real journal; having said that, it didn’t really get in the way, except when it forced the chapters to be a bit too long.

So far so good, but… there’s no escaping the fact that this book didn’t have a professional editor. Calling two characters Jane may be realistic, but in fiction is surely a schoolboy error unless it’s for comic effect. While anyone not from Birmingham might accept that the shopping centre was called The Palisades, there were many typos that I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t take a writer to spot, and I’m convinced the year changes half way through the week.

Now, I probably know better than most how hard it is to get that editing process right. However many times you and your beta-testers read the draft, something will slip through the net. And, to be fair, they weren’t the most hilarious/embarrassing bloopers I’ve seen in a self-pubbed book, but the editing, or lack thereof, does let down what is otherwise a good concept, a decent story, and some nice, authentically broken Christian (and non-Christian) characters.

http://www.abritishcrash.co.uk

*OK, technically, it’s published by a Christian Equitable Company, which may or may not amount to the same thing. As a self-published author myself, I believe there is a place for self-publishing (or indie publishing, or whatever you wish to call it) in niches like British Christian fiction, and for getting those labours of love out into the world. But all of that is another conversation, which maybe I’ll return to another day.

Sci-fi Song Of The Week

2011-06-14T21:36:00.000+01:00

Following seemlessly from yesterday's post about ways of using dialogue in characterisation, this weeks Sci-Fi Song should serve as a warning not to overdo thecatchphrases...

They don't make 'em like that any more (videos or songs)!

Out of the mouth of babes....

2011-06-13T22:01:00.000+01:00

I have this little daughter, she is small and very funny. For instance, straight after finishing a bedtime story recently, she insisted on a recap. Yes, a five year old asking for a recap. I thought that was odd too, but apparently it's something her teacher does at school. Or more to the point, a word her teacher uses a lot at school.

But it was when I noticed that this same five year old had developed a tendency to use the phrase 'I have a tendency to [insert habitual activity of five year old girl here]' that I realised what I had... I have my very own personal catchphrase detector!

Being a writer, I occasionally have need of useful ways to tell my characters apart in those lengthy sections of dialogue; things such as patterns of speech, favourite subjects, and, yes, their favourite words and phrases. Writers are often told to listen to conversations on buses and such to pick up these sorts of things, but now I can just send my daughter off to do it for me, and I only have to listen for the unexpected words and phrases that she starts coming out with. (I will have to bear in mind, of course, that she is an annoyingly smart child. The sort who will baffle nursery staff by using the word 'foliage' perfectly correctly.)

Are there any more inventive (ie lazy) ways of creating individual speech patterns for characters?

Phursday Photos: Dunstanburgh Castle

2011-06-09T10:42:00.000+01:00

For no other reason than that it's been something of an iconic view since my childhood, and every time I go back I find myself taking more pictures of the castle and the scenery around it. So, while I get on with thinking up some sci-fi related stuff to post, here are some of them.

Sci-fi Song Of The Week

2011-06-07T21:16:00.000+01:00

I think this is where the whole song of the weel thing started, but after a big Who event, it seems like the only way to go...

Loving that video... similar production values to original Who (and, indeed to the song itself...)

Shall we talk about Doctor Who?

2011-06-06T21:35:00.000+01:00

Yes, ok, my planned return toregular-ish blogging stalled, but we're here now, and it seems we might as well at least mention that Doctor Who cliffhanger which is busy dividing opinion across the blogosphere.

I liked it. Well, not the cliffhanger so much, because that was pretty lame and 'oh, well that's alright then, nobody's going to die horrily over the summer'. But the episode, as a whole, was pretty fun. I mean yes, you might ask how the Doctor came to be owed a favour by the Judoon, and why he's best friends with Vastra, the Victurian Silurian, but that would spoil the fun. You could also ask why the para-military church types guys didn't just shoot a squillion holes in the Doctor's two hearts while they had all those guns pointed at him, but, that would just cause the entire story to disappear into a plot hole, and nobody wants that.

But Doctor Who has never taken itself that seriously, and even now, as it seems to be taking a somewhat darker turn, we probably shouldn't start over-analysing it. It was a fun story, with a few flaws, but bucket loads of action, lots of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey nonsense, plenty of bad guys, and a slight cliffhanger. Oh yes, and River Song becomes slightly less of an enigma, so it will be interesting to see where that goes next.

I don't know if I've said this before, but I like a character with a dark side, and I'm looking forward to seeing a little more darkness from Eleven - a little more of the violence that the Doctor always had in him before the Last Great Time War (after which it seems Nine and Ten took to pacifism and a moody kind of darkness in an attempt to redeem themselves for 'destroying' the Daleks and the Time Lords).

Bow ties are definitely cool.

Tuesday Tunes: The Return of the Sci-fi Song Of The Week!

2011-05-31T18:08:00.000+01:00

Apparently, so my Great Uncle Wikipedia informs me, it's one of the blokes out of Run DMC's 47th birthday today. And because I've been writing about ghosts lately, it seems only logical to mash the two together, zap them with a little sci-fi magic (without crossing the streamers, mind), and see what turns up to reintroduce the Sci-fi Song Of The Week.

I always thought Ghostbusters II was a poor relation to the original; the walking Statue of Liberty tries to top Mr Staypuft, but just comes across as silly. And I can remember several fun one-liners from the original movie, but from the sequel I get stuck after the 'Do' 'Ray' Egon' moment, which was probably the comedy highpoint of the film. Or maybe I've just watched the original a lot more than the sequel.

No, actually, I'm pretty sure GBII was rubbish. Still, gotta love the wacky pop-rap cover version of the theme, eh?

Oh yes, and happy birthday DMC :)

Greg Mitchell, and a strange quote

2011-05-30T20:44:00.000+01:00

For those who followed the CSFF Blog Tour for The Strange Man a few weeks back, you might be interested to check out the interview with author Greg Mitchell on the Spirit Blade Underground Podcast last week. At the time of writing it's still queued up on my mp3 player, but apparently it's a 'great conversation about approaching the taboo genre of horror in a Christian publishing market'. So if that (and indeed general discussion of all things speculative from a Christian perspective) sounds like a good way to spend half an hour, hop on over and take a listen.

Oh, and, Doctor Who quote of the week: 'Reverse the jelly baby of the neutron flow!'

Homeless Characters

2011-05-27T20:04:00.000+01:00

As part of my attempt to blog something hopefully interesting, I decided (in a moment of madness) that Fridays would be About Writing. Which, in theory at least, means I should get on and atually do some writing, if only late on Thursday nights.

And with that in mind, I'm briefly dusting off a currently homeless character. I invented her a few years ago, as part of a comedy writing exercise pretty much for my own enjoyment and nothing else. I think she was a good comedic character; she had her own gimmick, a catchphrase and everything, and was a nice litle way of poking fun at her real-life counterparts. With a bit of work I could probably have sold some sketches to Little Britain or something.

However, I knew I couldn't do that. I always wanted my writing (at least, any that got released into the wild) to be in some way God-honouring. And this girl, as she stood, was far from being that. She was too light-hearted, too busy making light of a lifestyle that really isn't very funny. And so she has lingered, unloved, on my hard drive, until I began to wonder...

Can I breath some fresh life into her, and somehow use her to highlight what was wrong with her life? Can I concentrate really hard and not make her a stupid caricature, but something useful and potentially God-honouring? Maybe if I replace the stupid juvenile humour of her original incarnation with something more dry and self-deprecating, she can help me to show the way things really are.

Maybe, some day, she will get a second chance. For now, though, I don't think her story is for me to tell. Back to your little corner of the hard drive for now...

I've been distracted

2011-05-25T19:23:00.002+01:00

I realised Towel Day was coming, and it's taken me about five weeks to find my towel. That's why it's been so quiet around here lately. Honest.

Well ok, that's not strictly true. I actually forgot it was Towel Day until, well, half way through the day. But did I panic? I did not. Instead I chose to use Towel Day as an excuse to try and reboot the blog (again) in a completely non-labour intensive way.

Incidentally, the reason it's been so quiet around here lately is just that I'm rubbish at coming up with interesting and witty things to write. Could you tell?

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

2011-04-19T20:54:00.001+01:00

Firstly, an apology. This weeks Top Ten does not contain the requisite minimum 7 minutes of quality electronica. In fact, I'm not sure it's got any electronica in it. I've let my reader down, I've let the tour down, and I've let myself down.

Anyway, this week the CSFF Blog Tour is featuring The Strange Man by Greg Mitchell, which of course means the Top Ten Strange Songs, specially hand-picked for you by, well, a strange man.

10. Bob Ponton: He Was A Strange man
The opinions expressed in this Top Ten are not necessarily those of the blogger, the CSFF Blog Tour, or anyone else.

9. Leonard Cohen: The Stranger Song
Now I'm not an expert, but I'm fairly sure our Len has written stranger songs than this.

8. U2: Stranger In A Strange Land
From waaaaay back when Bonio was a boy, from U2's difficult second album, which for some reason they decided to make about God.

7. Madonna: Beautiful Stranger
Yeah baby!

6. The Holland Dutch: Strange Man
Purveyors of fine melodic indie rock, apparently.

5. Thousand Foot Krutch: Stranger
That Canadian Christian rock outfit who did a Jesus-themed cover of EMF's Unvbelievable. Stranger is not on that level of genius, but then, what could be?

4. Mandrake Paddle Steamer: Strange Walking Man
Would it surprise you to learn that this is a psychadelic prog-rock number?

3. The Kinks: Strangers
I'm normally not that big a fan of Dave Davies' contributions to the Kinks' catalogue, but I like this one.

2. Topper: Funeral Of The Strange Man
OK, it's less than a minute long, and it's barely even music in the traditional sense, but I think that's why it entertained me so much.

1. Mean Creek: Strange Man
One of the more obscure tracks I Spotified up this week, a nice laid back piece of indie rock.

Your Spotify playlist is here, and while you listen to that little lot, wander round these blogs and find out a little something about the book, which is, after all, kind of the point of the exercise.

Noah Arsenault Red Bissell Kathy Brasby Grace Bridges Beckie Burnham CSFF Blog Tour Amber French Tori Greene Katie Hart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Jason Joyner Carol Keen Inae Kyo Emily LaVigne Shannon McDermott Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Gavin Patchett Andrea Schultz Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler

CSFF Blog Tour - The Strange Man, Day One

2011-04-18T17:46:00.002+01:00

It is an important yet often overlooked fact that just a year ago, the strange and nebulous concept of the fantasy spectrum was introduced to this tour. I really should have got around to illustrating this concept in the last twelve months, but as you can probably tell by my somewhat sporadic blogging pattern (I use the word 'pattern' in its vaguest sense), I am not made of time.

Anyway, it is that time of the month again, so, having reverted to type and not done the homework, I figure I'll get the Spectrum out and dust it off. And then after a few rounds of Manic Miner*, write a blog post. Our subject this week is supernatural suspense novel The Strange Man by Greg Mitchell. So, without further ado, to the Blurb!

Dras Weldon lives in a world of horror movies and comic books. Twenty-two and unemployed, he is content to hide in the shadow of adolescence with a faith that he professes but rarely puts into action.

But when a demonic stranger arrives and begins threatening his friends, Dras is drawn into a battle that forces him to choose which side he is on. In a race against the clock, he must not only fight these evil forces but also somehow convince his best friend, Rosalyn, to join him--before she is lost forever.

Engaging and darkly humorous, The Strange Man is the first act of a trilogy that depicts a world where monsters are real and simple men and women must overcome their doubts and fears in order to stand against the unspeakable creatures of the night.

I was unemployed for while when I was 22. Don't remember anything like that happening to me. I guess I didn't read enough comic books.

Anyway: monsters and demons, comic books and dark humour... doesn't sound too bad really. This would probably sit nicely in the warm reds and oranges of horror and urban fantasy. But of course, you will want a less vague opinion of the actual book, so why not lurk, strangely, at some of these blogs:

Noah Arsenault
Red Bissell
Kathy Brasby
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
CSFF Blog Tour
Amber French
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Bruce Hennigan
Timothy Hicks
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Inae Kyo
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McDermott
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Gavin Patchett
Andrea Schultz
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler

*Completely out of context retro gaming pun. Don't feel bad if you didn't get it.

Called to write?

2011-03-29T22:14:00.000+01:00

Look at that, you wait a week for a bandwagon to jump on, and then two come along at once. I thought about jumping on the Jacqueline Howett bandwagon, but I figure she's had enough publicity by now (is there such a thing as bad publicity? If there wasn't before, I think she just invented it.) so instead I'm running after Fred Warren's bandwagon about being called to write. Or not.

I am fairly clear in my own mind why I write: I'm wired that way, writing things down helps me to work through my own problems as well as learning stuff. The logical step from there is to say that God wired me that way; I believe, in my typically modest way, that He gave me a talent for writing, and it would be rude not to use it. And so, in some small way, I try to use it to give something back to Him.

Now obviously, a comic fantasy retro-cyberpunk road trip featuring Rod Serling from out of The Twilight Zone and a sentient ZX81 is unlikely to start a revival, but much of what I write does reflect something of God.

So am I called to write? Well, I struggled with that for a long time; whether I should be involved in some more tangible or constructive form of ministry instead of convincing myself that God wants me to write. In fact, I almost convinced myself that God didn't want me to write, and all but gave up. But then I realised: this is who I am. A writer - someone who thinks better with the written word at hand - is what God gave me. And if I want to rewrite the Old Testament as a space opera, well... maybe God gave me that desire too. Maybe God does want me doing this crazy thing called writing.

However, like many comentators on the subject, I don't feel suitably qualified to jump right in and say a definitive yes; but I certainly don't feel called to stop writing.

On the other hand, circumstances have led me to feel very strongly about certain issues in life, and, yes, I feel called to do something about those issues. And until I come up with a better idea, the thing I'm going to do is write. Sometimes a story can raise awareness of an issue far more effectively than any amount of placard waving or *ahem* peaceful protesting.

Linky Goodness:
Fred Warren: Call Writing
Sally Apokedak: Divine Calling
Bob Thune: A Theology of Work
Mike Duran: Where Do Writers Fit in the Church?

Me: Why I write
Me: Why I don't write

CSFF Blog Tour: The Resurrection by Mike Duran

2011-03-23T23:41:00.001+01:00

Well, at the risk of this becoming a habit, may I now present you with… a review of this month’s featured title, The Resurrection by Mike Duran. OK, I haven’t actually read the whole thing, but close enough to give a decent review, and I can absolutely guarantee not to spoil the ending for you.

Plus, there are plenty of very in-depth reviews elsewhere on the tour, so feel free to indulge in those too, but for now, here are my thoughts…

First page, and there’s a ghost called Mr Cellophane. Call me shallow, but I liked that. I think he should come back with a bigger role in the spin-off, like Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters. But I digress; there are more important things about this book to be discussed. Like: spiritual warfare – indeed, the existence (or otherwise) and nature of spiritual interference in our daily lives; miraculous healings – indeed, resurrections – and their effects on those involved, those involved who didn’t wish to be involved, and those not involved who wanted to be; and broken people, broken pastors and the inevitably dysfunctional churches they end up forming.

I liked the dysfunctional nature of the characters. Nothing is more tedious in a story than a Christian character who is either too perfect to be realistic, or a deliberate corruption intended to show up all that is bad about ‘religion’. These guys… well, I guess the pastor who’s lost his faith is a little bit of a stock character, but he’s got a decent back story to him, he’s plausible enough for the story. Ruby Case, the unwilling miracle worker, and her jealous prayer partner Vinyette are perhaps more rounded characters, each with her own flaws but, as the praying heart of a failing church, plenty to make you root for them and they march, utterly unprepared, onto the spiritual battlefield that their home town of Stonetree has become.

The resurrection of the title, and the other miraculous healings that Ruby finds herself called upon to perform, give an interesting idea of how such a miracle might be seen in this cynical world of ours, but in the wider story they kind of fade behind what I saw as the real story – the spiritual war being raged in a pretty ordinary town. My town has closed down churches and hippy shops… the place is relatable, and in this place the battle is fought not by angels, but by a limping housewife and a doubting vicar. It doesn’t get much more real than that, and I think sometimes we need to be reminded that, although the existence of spirits in the Mr Cellophane sense may be debatable, there is a spiritual realm to our world, and for my money this story does a pretty decent job of that.

In fact I’d say this book does a decent job all round. A good story, well written, plenty of twisty bits to get your mind round, and lots of thought-provoking subjects covered. Definitely a good one, even if it didn’t have any spaceships in it.

So all that remains is to remind that author Mike Duran blogs here, and the blog tour continues this way:

Noah Arsenault Brandon Barr Red Bissell Book Reviews By Molly Keanan Brand Kathy Brasby Grace Bridges Beckie Burnham Melissa Carswell Jeff Chapman Christian Fiction Book Reviews Carol Bruce Collett Valerie Comer Karri Compton Wanda Costinak Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour Janey DeMeo Cynthia Dyer Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Katie Hart Joleen Howell Bruce Hennigan Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Carol Keen Emily LaVigne Shannon McNear Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika Joan Nienhuis Nissa John W. Otte Gavin Patchett Sarah Sawyer Andrea Schultz Tammy Shelnut Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Dave Wilson

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

2011-03-22T23:40:00.003+01:00

It occurs to me now that I haven't actually done a Tuesday Tunes outside the Blog Tour in months, so this whole concept has become sort of anachronistic... Still, why stop now just because it's completely irrelevant?

So here it is, miraculously brought back from the dead - no, not the Top Ten Duran Duran songs, it's the Top Ten Resurrection songs:

10. Alison Moyet: Love Resurrection
Well that's at least one positive review for Mike Duran this week! Thankyouverymuch, I'm here all week ;)

9. Misfits: Resurrection
Throwing taste out of the window here, with a short sharp burst of '90s horror punk.

8. Arrested Development: Resurrection - Man's Final Frontier
That's better, the laid back positive hip-hop stylings of Speech and the crew.

7. Nekromantix: Nice Day For A Resurrection
Danish psychobilly. I can pretty much guarantee this will be the first post on the tour to put those words in the same sentence.

6. The Cult: Resurrection Joe
I coiuld have picked any number of Scandinavian Death Metal songs called Resurrection, but the official 'metal' entry this week comes from '80s goth rockers The Cult.

5. Mann Friday: Resurrection
I have no idea who Mann Friday is/are/were/was; they're too obscure for amazon, but this song popped up on Spotify and I liked it, so in it went.

4. Apocalyptica: Resurrection
It's like rock music, with cellos. We're nothing if not eclectic here.

3. Tapefly: The Resurrection
I Spotified some real oddities this week... but moments of lo-fi indie greatness like this make the whole Duran Duran idea seem even more ridiculous...

2. Delerium: Resurrection
Because every Top Ten needs at least 7 minutes of quality electronica. Here you get 9 minutes and 26 seconds.

1. The Stone Roses: I Am The Resurrection
Controversial choice? Maybe, but any excuse to cram in 8 minutes of one of the great indie anthems of my mis-spent youth.

Here they are on Spotify.

All of which musical frivolity is, of course, because a bunch of bloggers have just read The Resurrection by Mike Duran. So if you want to find out something about the actual book, click on one of these at random:
Noah Arsenault Brandon Barr Red Bissell Book Reviews By Molly Keanan Brand Kathy Brasby Grace Bridges Beckie Burnham Melissa Carswell Jeff Chapman Christian Fiction Book Reviews Carol Bruce Collett Valerie Comer Karri Compton Wanda Costinak Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour Janey DeMeo Cynthia Dyer Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Katie Hart Joleen Howell Bruce Hennigan Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Carol Keen Emily LaVigne Shannon McNear Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika Joan Nienhuis Nissa John W. Otte Gavin Patchett Sarah Sawyer Andrea Schultz Tammy Shelnut Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Dave Wilson

CSFF Blog Tour: The Resurrection by Mike Duran

2011-03-21T21:55:00.002+01:00

I remember a time, not that many years ago, when the Fiction shelf at my local Christian bookstore began and ended with 'Peretti'. And this month the CSFF blog tour sees something of a return to those good old days of angels and demons battling it out somewhere over California. The Resurrection is much more of a human story than This Present Darkness, as the blurb says:

When Ruby Case, an unassuming crippled woman, inexplicably raises a boy from the dead, she creates uproar in the quiet coastal town of Stonetree. Some brand her a witch, others a miracle worker. Yet Reverend Ian Clark could care less. Dogged by demons and immersed in self-pity, Clark is being unwittingly drawn into a secret religious order--one that threatens his very life. But he's about to get a wake-up call.

Together, Ruby and Reverend Clark are thrust into a search for answers... and a collision with unspeakable darkness. For behind the quaint tourist shops and artist colonies lies a history of deceit. And a presence more malignant than anything they can imagine. Yet a battle is brewing, the resurrection is the first volley, and the unlikely duo are the only ones who can save them. But can they overcome their own brokenness in time to stop the evil, or will they be its next victim?

I am not going to review the book at this point because, well, I haven't read it all yet. But I probably will have done by the end of the tour, so that should give you something to come back for (other than the Top Ten Duran Duran songs tomorrow*), right?

In the meantime, author Mike Duran blogs here, and lots of other nice people blog at these places:
Noah Arsenault
Brandon Barr
Red Bissell
Book Reviews By Molly
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Melissa Carswell
Jeff Chapman
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Carol Bruce Collett
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Wanda Costinak
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Janey DeMeo
Cynthia Dyer
Tori Greene
Nikole Hahn
Katie Hart
Joleen Howell
Bruce Hennigan
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McNear
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Joan Nienhuis
Nissa
John W. Otte
Gavin Patchett
Sarah Sawyer
Andrea Schultz
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Dave Wilson

* I'm kidding**
**Aren't I?

Friday Review: Offworld by Robin Parrish

2011-03-18T17:15:00.000+01:00

I'm going to make this review really easy now: This story would make a great Doctor Who episode. That should be all you need to know in order to decide whether to read it or not.

The Earth is mysteriously deserted, apart from a handful of good guys, a handful of bad guys, and the mysterious Mae, who has somehow survived whatever cataclysm occurred and may therefore in some way hold the key to all the madness. The good guys and bad guys play cat and mouse across the deserted landscape heading towards a mysterious beacon which, through a heady mix of technobabble and handwavium, has caused every living creature on the planet to take lunch in a parallel universe, or something. Along the way there are comic-book style battle sequences, mind-boggling car crashes, all the suspense you could wish for on a Saturday teatime, and an utterly implausible Big Bad hidden under a sports stadium. See, it's just like Doctor Who, but without the bow tie.

OK, if we're honest, the whole concept is never going to wash with hard sf fans, definitely leaning towards the science-fantasy end of the genre, not too far from Parrish's Dominion Trilogy of superhero novels.

It must also be said that, having plot-holed my way through Fearless and been left bemused by some of the editorial bloopers in Merciless, I was sort of on the lookout for more of the same here. And there were one or two odd sentences that just didn't seem quite right, the odd mixed metaphor here and there, but it didn't bother me as much this time round. It's even possible that if I hadn't been looking for them I would have missed them, but I was. And I didn't.

The other thing I was looking for was the low-key approach to any kind of Christian theme, which was all but non-existent in the Dominion Trilogy. And a similarly low-key approach was taken here too, with, by my reckoning, precisely zero Christians appearing in the entire book. Having said that, there was a message, and when, towards the end, I finally saw it, I have to say I liked it - both the message and the subtle delivery.

So, don't look for the bloopers, just sit down and get ready for a wild and crazy ride. This story would make a great Doctor Who episode.

Linky goodness:
CSFF Blog Tour for Offworld
My review of Relentless by Robin Parrish
My review of Fearless
My review of Merciless

More artificially intelligent thoughts

2011-03-14T21:43:00.000+01:00

Let us assume, for the moment, the humanity has the foresight to build in some kind fail-safe that prevents Artificial Intelligences from assuming god-like powers. Let us assume that they remain benevolent, helpfully looking after our practical needs, remembering to record Fringe for us, hoovering the lounge while we’re at church, making sure that we can find our way to that meeting on Monday morning, that kind of thing. The devices we need are already here; all we are missing is the home AI to tie it all together. Bring it on, I say – as I mentioned on Friday, time management is not my strong point, and if I could get my PC to help me out in a few practical ways maybe I would get to writing my next book before Bill Myers does. (No, I’m not gonna let that go any time soon.)

The eternal question for AI-related fiction is: at what point does intelligence become consciousness? And at what point does consciousness constitute life? And how do you differentiate between intelligent life with and without a ‘soul’? If Lieutenant Commander Data had decided, for whatever reason, to go to church one Sunday morning, would he have been welcomed? Would he have been able to believe? What difference would it have made if he did?

An artificial intelligence would, of course, have easy access to pretty much everything written on every religion and crack-pot belief system currently circulating the internet; it would, in theory, be able to analyse all the evidence in a completely logical way and arrive at the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything in, I imagine, a shade under seven and a half million years. Is that what we want? Would it affect our beliefs if that did happen? Would a computer arrive at the ‘correct’ answer, or would a logical thought process preclude the existence of what we know to be an emotional God?

I guess Christian science-fiction has a lot to throw in to this debate, if it wants to. And I think it probably should; I don’t suppose churches need to worry about whether or not to baptise androids just yet, but it would be nice to think that the church will, in some form, survive the technological singularity.

Friday Review: Vanish by Tom Pawlik

2011-03-11T22:03:00.001+01:00

It looks like we’re settling on two posts a week for the time being, at least until somebody teaches me time management.

And (on the subject of time management) I’m reviewing Vanish by Tom Pawlik, which I failed to feature in the, let’s see…. June 2009 CSFF Blog Tour. I guess I don’t need to worry too much about spoilers then.

I thought this was a great story. It’s one of a bunch of ‘where’d everybody go?’ novels that seemed fleetingly popular in Christian fiction a couple of years ago; the most obvious comparison being Kathryn Mackel’s Vanished (which I reviewed here). In Vanish you will find traditional gray aliens, Lost-y flashbacks, and plenty of suspense, action and general weirdness. It may sound like Pawlik just threw in a bit of everything from the spec-fic parts bin, but the result is an enjoyable and coherent story.

The writing style is uncomplicated but largely inoffensive, and it does the job well enough. The middle section does seem needlessly repetitive; I’m sure there was enough going on that we didn’t need to be told the same facts over and over again. I also noticed lots of jaws stiffening and teeth clenching from various different characters; arguably a minor flaw, but drawing attention to this apparently universal reaction did detract from what characterisation there was.

The main characters were a nicely mixed bunch, as is required in this kind of story; interestingly, there were no Christians among them, and the worldview was left to filter in via the people the characters know and love. However, when the third act starts and the pieces start to fit together (spoiler alert: think Life on Mars) it leads to a brilliant and satisfying conclusion (even if the final chapter is somewhat superfluous).

And I’ve just remembered there’s a sequel. The week after my birthday. Sigh.

For more linky goodness, why not time travel back to the CSFF Blog Tour for Vanish.

Artificially intelligent thoughts

2011-03-07T22:33:00.000+01:00

If I was an artificial intelligence, god-like or otherwise, I would probably do something actually intelligent like sit down and work out where I was going with a post before I started. But I'm not, so I'm doing the flawed human thing of throwing myself in at the deep end and probably wibbling on about nothing relevant for half the post.

So, to the point then: AIs as gods. In some ways, the Artificial Intelligences we see in sf are sort of god-like, at least in comparison to our puny human minds. They are, of course, vastly superior in memory and thinking power; not subject to the distractions of the flesh and emotions as we are; and perfectly logical. All good things in a computer, but whether you would want all of them to be qualities of a god is debatable. Good potential story ground though: What would it be like to serve a totally logical god? What kind of universe would such a god create? And, would it be logical to want your creations to worship you?

I'm not sure I buy the computer-as-creator idea though,although you can read about it in Asimov's The Last Question, which is available online. It makes a lot more sense, in reality and story, for AIs to be more akin to false gods - I can see the Old Testament Space Opera version now, SpaceElijah taunting the prophets of the great super-computer Baal...

It's not a massive leap, of course, to imagine that with computers of world-running capability would be likely to remove the need (or at least, the perception of a need) for a real God at all, especially if you run them in combination with a virtual world in which we can all live out an afterlife of sorts. Presumably such a computer would be pretty keen to eliminate the few remaining religious types in its world (in a nice subversion of the 21st Century, they would have to resort to communicating by snail mail to avoid the AI tracking them and shutting them down), and might even turn out to be the anti-Christ in some weird cyberpunk version of Left Behind...

Looks like I need to get writing - I hope Bill Myers isn't reading this...

Friday Review: Paul

2011-03-04T20:33:00.000+01:00

I was planning another artificial intelligence post earlier in the week, but our internet was out for most of a day, so it didn't get finished. Anyway, enough excuses, on with the review!

Before I say anything else about this film, I’ll say this: if you get offended by bad language, you’re gonna want to give this one a wide berth. There is a lot of it, to the point of gratuitous swearing being a running gag for much of the film. Much of the gratuitous swearing is therefore deliberately comical, but if you don’t want to hear it, save your pennies.

On the other hand, if you’re a fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and especially of Spaced, then you’ll get a kick out of this movie.

The writer Clive Gollings (Nick Frost) and Graeme Willy (Simon Pegg) are living every British geek’s dream: a road trip from San Diego Comic Con along the Extra-terrestrial Highway. As is the tradition with road movies, they pick up a motley crew of hangers-on along the way – in this instance a stereotypical grey called Paul, and a similarly stereotypical Bible Belt girl called Ruth. (If Christian-bashing is going to offend you, you might also want to skip the film. If not, we’ll come back to Ruth.) They also pick up a crowd of pursuers, Men in Black, the FBI, Ruth’s dad and his pet shotgun…

So, the film. It’s funny, in a Pegg & Frost way; the pair are perhaps not quite as chummy as in, say, Shaun of the Dead, but the gag rate is high, and the ‘aliens abroad’ theme is completely subverted by having an actual alien having more clue what’s going on than the humans. Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) gets all the best lines, and a weird love triangle with Graeme and Clive, who almost fall out over hogging the alien experience.

Which brings us back to Bible belt Ruth, who sort of gets in the way of the aforementioned love triangle by wanting to fornicate with Graeme. Yes, her alien encounter brings about a rather abrupt conversion to, well, some brand of hedonistic atheism maybe; or maybe just a belated rebellion against the religion instilled in her by her father. Even Christians in the UK find it easy to laugh at these stereotypical trailer-park dwelling ‘Christians’; I’m not sure how well that will go down in the States, but the character’s of Ruth and her father, and how they interact with the wider world around them, gives plenty of scope for meaningful discussion – Paul hands you one the second he meets Ruth, and there’s plenty of debate to be had, not just about how Christianity would react to alien life, but about fundamentalism done badly, what Christians are really like in real life, the whole miraculous healing thing aliens have evolved, and no doubt plenty of others.

Oh yes, and anyone who was on the CSFF Blog Tour last week might find something familiar about the way Paul does his alien healing thing too!

That said, most of the fun to be had with this movie, is in trying to spot all the geeky references and cameo appearances as the fly past with varying degrees of subtlety. I will be looking out for the DVD in the hope of an homage-o-meter similar to the Spaced DVDs. A lot of fun for the geek in your life!

Artificial Intelligence

2011-02-28T21:54:00.000+01:00

Following last week’s little adventures into the world of cyberspace and artificial intelligence, I thought that, this being a sci-fi blog and all, I would attempt to continue that conversation, first with a quick overview of AI as a fictional device and how it could relate to Christianity.

Artificial intelligence in sf started out as the pinnacle of transhuman evolution, notably in Isaac Asimov’s The Last Question, where the final evolution of the man-made multivac AIs ultimately becomes God – a concept which surely requires more attention at a later date.

On a somewhat smaller scale, computers are generally intended to be useful; in sf a good artificial intelligence can conveniently remove the problem of human error in, say, navigating a large space vessel (the Nostromo from Alien, or any number of ships in the Culture novels of Iain M Banks).

However, as the giant supercomputers of 50s and 60s pulp sf gave way to networks of far smaller machines, the combined processing power available led to the idea of such a network achieving consciousness (Skynet, anyone?) and leading a cybernetic revolt, such as led to the slavery of humankind in the world of The Matrix.

Another angle on artificial intelligence, and one which has interesting potential for Christian fiction, is the idea of downloading a human mind into a computer, usually for the purpose of prolonging ‘life’ indefinitely. There are a few alternative directions this could go off in, some of which have already been tackled from a Christian perspective; The Personifid Project allows for human minds to be uploaded into artificial bodies, less prone to the common cold and so on. Alternatively the prospect of a digital afterlife might allow for similar discussion around what happens to the soul of a digitised person, and is explored in Greg Egan’s Permutation City. Expose your digitised minds to a computer virus, on the other hand…

That is far from a comprehensive outline of Artificial Intelligence in fiction, but it’s a few of the ways it has featured, and I’ll come back to some of them and try and find some way of using them in Christian Fiction in future posts.

In the meantime, feel free to chip in with any questions, comments, suggested reading, or anything else you care to add. Especially if you’re a sentient computer program.

Book Review: The God Hater by Bill Myers

2011-02-23T09:41:00.001+01:00

In conjunction with the Christian SciFi and Fantasy Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. And since they bothered to send it half way across the world, it seems only fair that I hold up my end of the bargain, which is to review the thing.

OK, I have to start with this: I wouldn’t have bought The God Hater. Not because it’s bad, but because if I had seen it in a bookshop (I know, but we’re reviewing sci-fi here, suspend your disbelief) there is nothing to tell me I would like it. The vague title and the bloke wandering along a cobbled street give no clues to the sub-cyberpunk action, and there’s no blurb to hint at it, just a bunch of writers saying how great it is. And, assuming I did, for a dare or something, pick the book up, I’d have to get about five chapters in before I figured out it was going to have the whole AI thing going on.

Luckily, however, we have a blog tour, which means that somebody told me what the book was about. Which is, to recap: the story of grouchy atheist Professor Nicholas Mackenzie, who is seconded by his techno-guru brother to provide the philosophical grounding for his huge AI computer program. Against all his better judgement, he does this by getting uploaded in virtual form into the AI computer world to tell its inhabitants about ‘Programmer’.

I’m trying really hard here not to go ‘well I would have done this differently….’ But in fact there were a few things I liked about Myers’ treatment of the whole AI Gospel idea – giving Nicholas a reason to genuinely care about the little computer people, the way strict legalism can distract from the spirit of the law, and Programmer’s virtual disciples, a miscellaneous bunch of prostitutes, thieves and other outcasts I could have lived with getting to know a little more. The crucifixion analogue (oops, was that a spoiler?) was set up nicely from the beginning, although some of its side-effects didn’t make that much sense to me in terms of either the story or the logic of the virtual world. Now, Myers admits that the science (and indeed the theology) of the story may not be 100% accurate, but for me, a few more clues about the internal workings of this world might have made for a more satisfying read.

I seem to say this about a lot of Christian novels, but the story keeps you going at a pretty quick pace, and certainly in this case the action in either the real world or cyberspace doesn’t let up for long. Unfortunately I think characterisation suffers a bit as a result of this, but maybe that’s ok. The God Hater is an ‘idea’ story, and I know from reinventing the Old Testament that a story like this has to get to certain points, so you can’t let characters run away with themselves as much as in a character-led story. Nicholas, in particular, starts out looking like he was just pulled out of a family size bag of Richard Dawkins, but as he gets pulled into his brother’s schemes he gets fleshed out and is real enough to help the idea reach a satisfying conclusion.

There was some good stuff going on in the real world too - a lot of it was fairly unbelievable, but maybe that made the few moments of realistic human interaction on Nicholas’ real life journey more satisfying. His story is, ultimately, a nice parallel to what virtual Nick (who for some reason managed to bypass the bitterness subroutine) is doing in the computer world. Making the protagonist a militant atheist was a good move, not least because not many Christian stories would have done so, but his job as a philosophy professor would have given him enough familiarity with the Bible to go about re-enacting it inside a giant computer game. Even given that assumption, some of the almost verbatim re-enactments of Biblical events stretched credibility a little, especially where they were instigated by the computer people.

In terms of theme and Christian content, well, most of us are at least vaguely familiar with computer games like The Sims these days, and in light of that the story does manage to humanise God's perspective on the Incarnation, as far as that is remotely possible. The Biblical parallel is pretty obvious once the cyber-story kicks in, but the predictable nature of that thread is off-set by some nice twists in the real world.

So is it any good? Well, if, like me, you’ve been reading the latest Iain M Banks or some similarly weighty sci-fi tome, the writing and depth of story is going to fall somewhat short of what you’ve been used to. On the other hand, you won’t be reading it for anything like as long, so it doesn’t really matter. If you like a quick, accessible read, that sheds a little light on the nature of God, then this one might be just what you’re after.

Find out more at thegodhater.com, facebook the author, or visit these blogs:

Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Keanan Brand Kathy Brasby Rachel Briard Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Melissa Carswell Carol Bruce Collett Valerie Comer Karri Compton CSFF Blog Tour Janey DeMeo April Erwin Amber French Andrea Graham Tori Greene Katie Hart Ryan Heart Joleen Howell Bruce Hennigan Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Carol Keen Emily LaVigne Shannon McDermott Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika MollyBuuklvr81 John W. Otte Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Andrea Schultz Tammy Shelnut Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Dona Watson Nicole White Dave Wilson

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

2011-02-22T09:55:00.003+01:00

In honour of this week's featured book on the CSFF Blog Tour, I've gone to the trouble of creating a sentient music selection program, complete with genre recognition subroutines, at least 17 algorithms for defining the 'best' tunes based on various factors (such as tediousness of intro, cheesiness of lyrics and difficulty of air-guitar accompaniment), and filters for relevance and repetition, and then hacking into SETI@home in order to generate the massive processing power required to bring you this, the all time Virtual Top Ten Songs:

10. QFX: Virtual Reality
This was always going to be a list fairly heavy on electronic music, so we'll kick off proceedings with some good old 90s rave. Warning: This song contains some strobe lighting.

9. Toyah: Computer
New wave awesomeness with weirdly relevant lyrics. Plus, how much of a genius do you need to be to name an album Sheep Farming in Barnet?

8. Jean Michel Jarre: Computer Weekend
A jolly little tune from everybody's favourite French electro pioneer.

7. Kraftwerk: Computer World
Naturally, we couldn't have a computer-themed Top Ten without those happy chaps from Düsseldorf.

6. Twilight: Computer Virus
Our odyssey through electronica takes a turn for the ambient here.

5. Operation Ivy: Artificial Life
And a change of pace for some late 80s ska-punk.

4. Ides of Space: Computer World
No, not a Kraftwerk cover - in fact, this mellow indie rock track all the way from Australia is about as far from Kraftwerk as you could get with the same title.

3. Synergy: Artificial Intelligence (Friday, January 25, 1980)
We're into the properly good stuff here, Eno-esque ambient electronica, apparently all written by a computer programme. All sounds a bit science-fiction, no?

2. Sonic Youth: Computer Age
Because every Top Ten needs a weird cover version - this is an alt rock version of a Neil Young song.

1. 35007: Artificial Intelligence
They're Dutch, and their name is Loose in calculator language. And this track is six minutes of instrumental prog-rock in the Porcupine Tree style. Which, for the record, is a good thing.

And of course, for those lucky enough to be reading this in the Spotify-enabled world, here's the link.

Oh yes, the feature book, by the way, is The God Hater by Bill Myers, which, if you've visited elsewhere on the tour you will know, is at least partly about artificial intelligence, virtual worlds and other such techy goodness. You can probably find out about it at some of these blogs:

Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Keanan Brand Kathy Brasby Rachel Briard Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Melissa Carswell Carol Bruce Collett Valerie Comer Karri Compton CSFF Blog Tour Janey DeMeo April Erwin Amber French Andrea Graham Tori Greene Katie Hart Ryan Heart Joleen Howell Bruce Hennigan Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Carol Keen Emily LaVigne Shannon McDermott Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika MollyBuuklvr81 John W. Otte Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Andrea Schultz Tammy Shelnut Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Dona Watson Nicole White Dave Wilson

CSFF Blog Tour: The God Hater by Bill Myers

2011-02-21T09:00:00.002+01:00

We don't really have Bill Myers in the UK. I thought he was the bloke from Austin Powers until Professor Google put me straight.

A quick look at thegodhater.com told me this about the book we will be featuring on the tour this month:

A cranky, atheist philosophy professor loves to shred incoming freshmen of their faith. He is chosen by a group of scientists to create a philosophy for a computer-generated world exactly like ours.
Much to his frustration every model introduced from Darwinism, to Existentialism, to Eastern beliefs fails. The only way to preserve the computer world is to introduce laws from outside their system through a Law Giver. Of course this goes against everything he believes and he hates it. But even this doesn't completely work because the citizens of that world become legalists and completely miss the spirit behind the Law.
The only way to save them is to create a computer character like himself to personally explain it. He does. So now there are two of him—the one in our world and the one in the computer world. (Sound familiar?)
Unfortunately, a rival has introduced a virus into the computer world. Things grow worse until the professor in that computer world sees the only way to save his world is to personally absorb the virus and the penalty for breaking the Law. Of course it's clear to all, including our real world professor, that this act of selfless love has become a complete reenactment of the Gospel. It is the only possible choice to save the computer world and, as he finally understands, our own.

So, we have a sort of cyberpunk-esque allegory, with the nebulous concept of sin represented by a computer virus... which, by a curious coincidence, is the exact plot of my first novel, penned (literally!) some time in the mid-90s when I first thought about writing fiction. Seriously. That bit about 'a rival has introduced a virus into the computer world'? I did that. Look, you can see it on my WIPlist - I had thought about revisiting it when I was a better writer, but couldn't make the thing stand up properly in a post-Matrix world.

So the question is, has Bill Myers done a better job of it than I did? Well, given that The God Hater is his umpteenth published novel, as opposed to his first left-in-a-desk-drawer novel, I would certainly hope so. In a dramatic break with tradition, I have actually read this book (thanks to the Tour organisers and Howard Books) and will post a proper review on Wednesday.

Interestingly, the idea I once dismissed as cheesy and derivative, that bloke from Left Behind described as the best idea Myers ever had. Make of that what you will: maybe Jerry Jenkins hasn't read that many really good 'idea' stories, or maybe Bill Myers' other ideas really were pants. Maybe Bill and Jerry* will agree that, in fact, this just means that I am a creative genius. If that were the case, I couldn't possibly argue, of course. Especially not with the man who gave us Shrek.

So, now you've read my rant, why not see how many of these bloggers have their own versions of Bill Myers' stories gathering dust a drawer somewhere:

Noah Arsenault Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Keanan Brand Kathy Brasby Rachel Briard Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Carol Bruce Collett Valerie Comer Karri Compton CSFF Blog Tour April Erwin Amber French Andrea Graham Tori Greene Katie Hart Ryan Heart Joleen Howell Bruce Hennigan Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Carol Keen Emily LaVigne Shannon McDermott Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika MollyBuuklvr81 John W. Otte Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Andrea Schultz Tammy Shelnut Kathleen Smith James Somers Donna Swanson Jessica Thomas Fred Warren Dona Watson Nicole White Dave Wilson

*don't they have an ice-cream business on the side?

Normal blogging will resume in....

2011-02-18T19:58:00.001+01:00

NaNoWriMo finishing post

2010-11-30T21:58:00.000+01:00

Yes, it's finally all over, and I (sort of) have a first draft for Project Seven. I also have a broken laptop, but I guess I should be thankful it lasted the month.

In fact I reached 50,000 words on Sunday night, and I'm taking a couple of days off writing (mainly to purge the bad word count raising habits I've picked up during November). I do intend to keep the writing momentum going, albeit at a less frantic pace for the next 11 months, with a couple of short stories and maybe an initial edit of a previous NaNo next on my to-do list, before I dive back into Project Seven in the new year, hopefully to salvage something from NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo progress report

2010-11-18T23:40:00.000+01:00

Well blogging on this subject has been even scarcer than actual NaNo words hasn't it?

Needless to say, progress has slowed somewhat this week. And last week. However, in an unexpected development last night (during a late night Write or Die session) an entirely new character shuffled onto the screen. I expected to just include him in the scene I was writing and move on, he was, after all, merely background material for the protagonist.

But then I realised he had not merely shuffled into the story - he had been chased there, pursued by a herd of rabid plot bunnies. I managed to beat off most of the bunnies but two stuck; I faced the stark realisation that actually I was telling the wrong story - something I had suspected for a while, but only now, 20,000 words in, realised whose story it was I should be telling. In the course of an hour, I had gone from having 19,000 words, most of which made some sort of sense together, to having a shade over 20,000 words, 18,000 or so of which were now completely redundant. And from having absolutely no sense of plot, to having two actually quite good and completely different directions in which I could take the story.

So, while I figure that out, at the moment my NaNo has a ridiculously long and convoluted Prologue, which will almost certainly never see the light of day, at least not in its current form.

Will I be blogging again this month? Well, I guess we'll see how the plot bunnies go on. Today, I think, will be another yellow day, but from tomorrow I'm going into overdrive in an attempt to get this thing written.

See you on the other side...

NaNoWriMo progress report

2010-11-09T18:18:00.000+01:00

Terrible!

I have got to 12,000 words now, but at least 5,000 are already surplus to requirements, and honestly, at this stage I'm doubting if there will be anything salvagable at the end of the month.... I am starting to think that actually I can't write a normal story, I need some element of weirdness for it to work. And at the moment I have no clue what kind of weirdness will serve the story, so I'm struggling onwards until I figure that out...

Plus the day job is starting to slip and the house is totally feral already, but that's another story.

The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead

2010-11-03T14:22:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned in passing the other day, as part of the CSFF Blog Tour I was lucky enough to receive a free review copy of this book from the publisher, Thomas Nelson.

Which of course means that rarest of events: I will be reviewing the book during the tour!

I already mentioned that some of the plot devices and settings were (almost literally) right up my street, and if you throw in the opening line:

Had he but known that before the day was over he would discover the hidden dimensions of the universe, Kit might have been better prepared. At least, he would have brought an umbrella.

A great opening line for sure, but did it continue in a similar vein? Well, for the most part, yes. The story is a cocktail of historical, adventure, science fiction and fantasy. It tells the story of Kit Livingstone, who finds himself suddenly thrust into the family business of travelling across time and between parallel Earths by way of the extensive ley-line network, the only map of which known to exist was tattooed on the back of an earlier ley-traveller.

It also tells the story of Kit’s girlfriend, Mina, who follows him only to end up in Prague and invent Starbucks; I found these bits a little tedious at times, but Kit’s efforts to track her down (which soon got sidetracked by the efforts to track the Skin Map down) were fun enough to make up for it.

I have to admit that when Cosimo first appeared, I was reminded of something from a Thursday Next novel but without the jokes; and as for the whole ley-travelling thing, I wonder if Mr Lawhead has seen Jumper? They even have the same secret hideout near the Egyptian pyramids.

None of which detracts from what is, overall, a great story told well, with the possible exception of the slightly out of place ending. Neat twist, or deus ex machina? I’m not sure, but I’m willing to wait for volume two to get it explained to my satisfaction.

On the plus side, the info-dumps, such as they are, fit nicely into the story thanks to Kit’s utter ignorance of what is going on; and for all the time and dimension hopping and multiple viewpoint characters, the story was not hard to keep track of.

Definitely worth a read if you like historical fiction, adventure stories, time travel, or just Stephen Lawhead.

More blogging about The Skin Map here:
Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Keanan Brand Grace Bridges Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Jeff Chapman Christian Fiction Book Reviews Valerie Comer Karri Compton Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour Stacey Dale D. G. D. Davidson George Duncan April Erwin Tori Greene Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Shannon McDermott Allen McGraw Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Nissa John W. Otte Gavin Patchett Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Kathleen Smith Rachel Starr Thomson Donna Swanson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Elizabeth Williams Dave Wilson

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes: The Skin Map

2010-11-02T22:47:00.004+01:00

It's a popular form of procrastination among NaNoers to cobble together a soundtrack to their hastily written masterpieces, and in a completely unrelated post, because I do it every month anyway, in honour of Stephen Lawhead's The Skin Map I present ten of the best cartographically relevant tunes in the multiverse; otherwise known as the Top Ten Map Songs.

10. Sheeple & Electrobios: Map Quest
We kick off this time round with the obligatory 7 and a half minutes of electronica; not an especially inspiring, track, but sneaks in for the relevant title.

9. Marillion: Map of the World
There was a moment when I thought how awesomely relevant it was to have a band from Avebury in the top ten. Then I realised that Marillion actually formed in Aylesbury, which is not quite the same thing.

8. Raoul Sinier: Map For a Tactical Nonsense
Another little electronic number from the French artist who brought us Wxfdswxc2, Huge Samurai Radish, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turnip. Well ok, I may have made one of those up.

7. Idlewild: I Don't Have The Map
I'm not sure if this is a direct quote from The Skin Map or not, but it's certainly a paraphrase. A Scottish indie-rock paraphrase at that.

6. We Were Promised Jetpacks: Let's Call This a Map
What's this? More Scottish indie-rock? Music venues in Scotland must be really hard to find...

5. Muse: Map of the Problematique
Completing the hat-trick of Scottish indie-rockers.... Just kidding, two is enough. And Muse are from Devon.

4. Deliverance: Map
You know, the references to where these bands are from was not intentional. I don't know where Deliverance are from, but being a Christian metal band, the do have a road map to heaven, and they're not afraid to sing about it.

3. Podge: Map of Life
Quite often while putting these Top Tens together I will run out of appropriate songs in my own collection, and just whack something like 'Map' into a Spotify search. Results can be patchy, but sometimes I'll find some little treasure I would otherwise have missed.... This is one of those.

2. Athlete: Street Map
No apologies, I just think Athlete are brilliant.

1. Shonen Knife: Map Master
J-Pop meets The Ramones. I love Shonen Knife too... and who can fault an opening line like 'I have a poor sense of direction'?

OK, I have some important writing to do, so I'm afraid you'll have to google up your own links for the tunes, unless you're lucky enough to be able to spotify them.

Now, as I missed it yesterday, here is your map for the rest of the tour:
Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Keanan Brand Grace Bridges Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Jeff Chapman Christian Fiction Book Reviews Valerie Comer Karri Compton Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour Stacey Dale D. G. D. Davidson George Duncan April Erwin Tori Greene Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Shannon McDermott Allen McGraw Matt Mikalatos Rebecca LuElla Miller Nissa John W. Otte Gavin Patchett Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Kathleen Smith Rachel Starr Thomson Donna Swanson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Elizabeth Williams Dave Wilson

CSFF Blog Tour: The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead

2010-11-01T17:33:00.000+01:00

It is an important and popular fact that my first novel was a sort of comic fantasy playing on the idea of ley lines (or isoparadoxes, lines of equal weirdness) as a means of travelling to perpendicular dimensions. It was, of course, unmitigated rubbish, and failed utterly to pave the way for someone with more talent to tackle the subject in a more serious manner.

And so it is that over the last month I have been reading The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead. I have to say it was nice that for this blog tour, the publisher involved managed to send a review copy of the book out to our poky little island. Apparently before they sent them to some US reviewers, which was nice change! And given that big chunks of the story take place in England, I hope you’ll appreciate the view of someone who has an Oyster card and grew up in the Gateway to the Cotswolds, although admittedly not in the 17th Century. I haven’t been to Black Mixen either, although I have been to Dragon Hill, which is in the Cotswolds and does have an artificially flat top, although rather than being a ley portal it’s where St George killed the dragon. Dragon blood is the most effective weedkiller known to man, and not so much as a blade of grass has grown on the hill for 17 centuries.

But I digress. I think the point, such as it was, was that things like leylines and prehistoric monuments and English mythology have long fascinated me, and, well, when you mix these things up with a little time and inter-dimensional travel, you’re going to have a book that I’ll at least take a look at in Waterstones.

So while I do that, here are some nice illustrations of ley lines and portals:

NaNoWriMo starting post

2010-11-01T11:41:00.003+01:00

Hooray, it's finally November! And, almost 11 hours in, am I writing? Have I, in fact, written word one? No of course not, I'm procrastinating already by joining the NaNo blogchain. Fifty thousand words in a month just isn't challenging enough any more, so I have to make myself blog about the experience at the same time....

But seriously, I will be kicking off tonight, and although I still have no real idea of where the plot of my NaNo is going, I have my main protag in mind, and a few of the supporting characters ready to chip in when the story is ready, so I guess I'll just be following their lead for a while...

My plan for this evening, and indeed the next couple of days, is basically to get off to a flying start. I have a whole week at the end of the month to catch up and hopefully finish off, but I know that if I don't reach the daily target on the first couple of days I will get horribly demoralised and it will be tough to keep going. So, today I'm going for the protag's introductory chapter, which absolutely has to be at least 1,667 words long.

Pre-NaNo to-do list

2010-10-27T20:56:00.001+01:00

Aaaargh, only a few days to go and so much still to do!

Get the day job up to date. Actually I'm in pretty good shape with this, although November is looking busy at the moment. :(
Get ahead with the NVQ. Tomorrow afternoon is set aside for this one.
Get the house clean enough to last a month. I'm going to have to class that one as 'desirable', I think.
Draft some bloggy goodness. There must be at least one CSFF blog tour during NaNo, right? Other than that I guess it will be random NaNo ponderings.
Help the in-laws move house. Or at least help them clear out some stuff. Including a cooker. To our house. Hmmmm.
Oh yes, and I suppose I should have some idea what on Earth I'm going to write come Monday.
And if I was more technically-minded I would fix the 'o' key on this laptop...

On toy robots and masturbation

2010-10-22T19:15:00.000+01:00

OK, it’s actually just an excuse for another retro review, but hey, how long will it be before somebody googles that exact phrase? (If that was you, by the way, welcome!)

So, Transformers then. Big action movie, fun special effects, every Hollywood cliché in the book, Megan Fox as eye-candy, and a happy ending. If any of that tickles your fancy, you probably saw this already, and if it doesn’t, you don’t care. So why, I hear you ask, are you blogging about a movie whose sequel has already been blogged to death?

Well, out of curiosity as to what the greater Christian public actually makes of films like this. There is, it must be said, a lot of good stuff in the movie – as with any good movie of this kind, the heroes are there to demonstrate self-sacrifice, justice and defending the weak, as well as looking cool and kicking Decepticon butt. This is all good. There is a lot of violence and reckless destruction of stuff, but it’s all cartoon violence, there’s no gory stuff and the body count is not excessive. Our hero, Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) is an ordinary teenage guy, who just wants a cool car and a hot girlfriend. Although some may consider this shallow (and rightly so), it’s also realistic. That’s what teenage guys want out of life. OK, so I generalise, but that’s a moot point, as during the course of the movie Sam discovers more noble traits like friendship, honour, and bravery, and generally matures over the course of the movie. Again, all good.

Although some Christian reviews I perused took issue with Sam’s shallowness, there did seem to be a problem with the sci-fi elements. In the movie, the good and bad Transformers are looking for the ‘AllSpark’, the means by which they were given life. It seems to me you can take this one of two ways; either it’s an allegorical version of God, or it’s a grotesque blasphemy. As this is just a story, surely it would be better used as an allegory, a way to teach children about the creation of man, than blamed for encouraging them to grow up worshipping robots? Yes, kids will want the toys, yes they will fantasize about worlds inhabited by shapeshifting robots, but I expect most will know it’s not real. And really, is there anything wrong with imagining – or even believing in the possibility – that God created life elsewhere than on this random chunk of rock we call home? And, at the risk of leaning towards the grotesque blasphemy, that such life may be completely unlike ourselves? I guess I’m just biased though.

Oh, yes, you were wondering when I would get to that bit weren’t you? Yes, there is an awkward scene where Sam’s parents think they’ve caught him masturbating, and a conversation about his special alone time ensues. Yes it was unnecessary for the plot, and unsuitable for children of a certain age, but films have ratings for a reason after all (in the case of Transformers, 12/PG-13). I suppose it may have given the teenage audience a slightly embarrassed moment of humour, but in its defence, the moral outrage it caused among Christian movie-goers probably saved the sci-fi elements from more of a bashing.

My take? Sam is a teenager. OK, most mums wouldn’t tackle the subject quite the way his did, but treating it as taboo, and calling it the ‘M-word’ in your internet review, are not going to make it go away. I don’t have the answer, but in our increasingly sexualised society (see Mikaela in this movie for an example) we shouldn’t be walking out of films that mention it, and we shouldn’t be ignoring it.

Hence, I suppose, my title for this post :)

NaNoWriMo is nearly here...

2010-10-20T17:22:00.000+01:00

And I'm starting, slightly, to panic. I haven't done half the things I needed to do before November 1st, the outline for the story keeps changing, and something else is bound to go wrong because these things always sound better in threes.

So, NaNo'10 is going to be the much anticipated first (complete) draft of Project Seven. It had a working title, but I think the story may be going off on a different tangent before I start, so even that may change. In fact, if I can think of what Project Seven actually is, maybe I'll even call it that.

I do have a protagonist: Benedict Brown is about to turn 40, and over the course of 50,000 words, looks back at the complete pig's ear he has made of his life. I know, sounds like a pretty uninspiring mid-life crisis story so far, but what he has done with his life is a story that needs to be told. There will be a catalyst for this introspection other than the impending anniversary, and this may or may not be an interesting plot point.

There are other characters with related stories, but I will concentrate on Ben for this NaNo; the others may appear briefly, or they may be written in afterwards. They may even have entirely different stories, say for NaNos '11 and '12.

Wow, I still have a lot to do. Still, as the saying goes.... No plot? No problem!

Wake me up when it's Octomber

2010-10-13T16:17:00.000+01:00

I might be being just a little bit paranoid, but I have a slight suspicion that this email I received today may not be 100% genuine...

On the plus side, if you can read this, it means I've sorted out the technical difficulties I've been having with blogger and will be returning to pester your rss aggregator again soon :)

Grrrr

2010-09-30T16:04:00.000+01:00

Honestly, I was going to write a half-sensible post about Venom and Song yesterday, but I've been having trouble with blogger for some reason :(

All being well I'll have something interesting to say (and the technology with which to say it) tomorrow. It may or may not have anything to do with Spiderman, Doctor Who or the Berinfell Prophecies.

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

2010-09-28T20:16:00.000+01:00

Imagine my surprise when I realised, having visited a few sites on the CSFF Blog Tour, that Venom and Song actually has nothing to do with Spiderman's nemesis or Doctor Who's mum, but is in fact the sequel to Curse of the Spider King by Christopher Hopper and Wayne Thomas Batson.

So with that in mind, and while I go off and hurriedly re-write tomorrow's in-depth study of the enigmatic River Song, allow me to cop out and reprise the Top Ten Spider Songs from last time we toured Batman and Hopper. Batson, sorry.

10. Barenaked Ladies: Spider In My Room
Ah, obscure album tracks. Where would we be without them? Looking at the top five spider songs, probably...

9. The Mission: Spider And The Fly
It wouldn't be a Spidery Top Ten without some nice goth rock now, would it?

8. Hawkwind: Web Weaver
I may have mentioned before that I like Hawkwind's brand of psychadelic space rock. This is from the brilliantly titled album Hall of the Mountain Grill.

7. Cylob: Spider Report
Time for a change of pace, and today's dose of electronica, which has R2-D2 on guest vocals. Probably.

6. The Who: Boris The Spider
Apparently this as Jimi Hendrix's favourite Who song. It must be true, it's on the internet.

5. Alice Cooper: I am the Spider
He's not The Spider, he's a very naughty boy.

4. David Bowie: Glass Spider
WARNING: Contains extreme weirdness.

3. Mogwai: Black Spider
Mmmmm, mellow. It's from a film about a French footballer you know.

2. Brian Eno: Spider And I
See last weeks Tuesday Tunes.

1. Primal Scream: Insect Royalty
OK, I know spiders aren't insects, but the extra two legs make them like royalty to all the ants and such. But it was too close not to top the charts, especially as the album, XTRMNTR, is one of the Scream's best efforts.

My reading list for the next 24 hours:
Angela Brandon Barr Keanan Brand Amy Browning Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Melissa Carswell Jeff Chapman Valerie Comer Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson April Erwin Tori Greene Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Dawn King Leighton Rebecca LuElla Miller John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Chawna Schroeder Tammy Shelnut James Somers Kathleen Smith Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Fred Warren Jason Waguespac Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Jill Williamson

And if you made it this far, let me remind you again that the CSFFBT special offer price for Countless as the Stars will be available for just a few more days. Buy now for Christmas!

CSFF Blog Tour: Venom & Song

2010-09-27T18:34:00.001+01:00

This week, along with the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tour, I will be highlighting one of the more bizarre double acts in speculative fiction of recent years, Venom and Song.

The story of how Spiderman's arch-nemesis and that mysterious woman out of Doctor Who were put together is something of a Cinderella meets X-Factor story, Venom having been discovered on a talent show by music mogul Christopher Hopper, while River Song was (allegedly) romantically involved with Hopper's partner in crime-fighting, Wayne Thomas Batman.

It was during a tortuously long corporate meeting discussing how a DC hero and a Marvel bad guy could possibly live together in the same universe, never mind harmony, that River Song entered with the sandwiches and spontaneously broke into a beautiful rendition of Superman's Big Sister, shortly to be joined by Venom for a duet of I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me).

The rest, as they say, is history; Batman and Hopper have officially given up the crime-fighting lark while Venom and Song record their debut album Berinfell, which will be out for Christmas with an accompanying single, Christmas With the Spider King.

Probably.

Also on the tour this week:
Angela Brandon Barr Keanan Brand Amy Browning Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Melissa Carswell Jeff Chapman Valerie Comer Amy Cruson CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson April Erwin Tori Greene Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Dawn King Leighton Rebecca LuElla Miller John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Chawna Schroeder Tammy Shelnut James Somers Kathleen Smith Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Fred Warren Jason Waguespac Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Jill Williamson

While we're here, let me remind you that the CSFFBT special offer price for Countless as the Stars will be available for just a few more days. Buy now for Christmas!

Tuesday Tunes: Before and After Science by Brian Eno

2010-09-21T22:21:00.000+01:00

Those who have been paying attention on Tuesdays might have noticed that I’m quite a fan of Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno. Well, this is where it all started. Specifically, it started when Mark Radcliffe played Backwater on his Radio One show Out On Blue Six, which was responsible for broadening my music taste considerably back in the early 90s.

Backwater is an unnecessarily jaunty little number in which we accompany Eno and the Porter’s daughters sailing at the edges of time; the combination of bouncy tune, weird lyrics and use of the word ‘sausage’ had me hooked immediately, and I hunted out a cassette (remember those?) of the album as soon as I could.

What I found was very much an album of two halves.

The first three tracks – No-one Receiving, Backwater, and Kurt’s Rejoinder – are similarly upbeat tracks, if not all as jolly as Backwater, with similarly off the wall lyrics. Kurt’s Rejoinder, incidentally, is named for Kurt Schwitters, whose influence led to Eno making the lyrics a secondary feature of the songs, which is probably why they make so little sense outside the context of the music.

There’s a brief respite for Energy Fools the Magician, a spooky instrumental piece which wouldn’t be too out of place on one of Eno’s ambient works, and then the new wave pop stylings of King’s Lead Hat (an anagram of Talking Heads, who could quite easily have made this song their own).

Side Two (I’m on cassette, remember!) kicks of with Here He Comes, a slightly more mellow song with a slight time-travel twang to slow us down ready for the second, arguably better, half of the album.

Julie With… and the closing track, Spider and I, are particularly mellow, with ambiguous lyrics woven into eerily beautiful ambient soundscapes…

And about those lyrics… No-one Receiving sounds almost like sf poetry, and most of the songs make reference to existing outside of time as we know it… I think, at some point, it might be quite fun to write some (or fewer) stories taking the lead from Eno lyrics…

Friday Review: The Shack by William P. Young (or: The Point in Christian Fiction)

2010-09-17T17:38:00.001+01:00

Yes, I’m going retro again, and this is not going to be so much a review (because who needs another review of The Shack?) as a few rambling thoughts on Christian Fiction with The Shack as a sort of backdrop.

Why? Well it was quite the phenomenon in Christian literature a couple of years ago, and as a result The Shack – like Left Behind and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe before it – has become a fixed point on the horizon of Christian fiction, a standard against which future books will be measured. And also because I happen rather to like it. There you go, it’s out there, feel free to make what you like of that information.

It’s somewhat harder to say exactly what I like about it; the plot is minimal, the introductory chapters seem over-written and largely superfluous, and the author tries to cram so many issues into the conversations between Mack and the various aspects of God that he cannot hope to cover any in great depth.

But, in this case, I believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Dissect it and examine it closely, and you can certainly pick holes in it depending on your theological preferences and degree of determination. But that, to me, misses the point somewhat. The Shack is a story – quite a short one at that – not a theological treatise, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’d put much faith in a God who could be thoroughly and accurately described in 250 pages of fiction.

The best a Christian writer can hope to do is shine some light on certain aspects of God. None of us know it all; I went into great depth studying the source material for Countless as the Stars, and while I think I reflected the God of Abraham accurately, I had to use a little artistic licence here and there, and no doubt somebody, somewhere, could take offence at it. (Incidentally, if anyone wants to start that hate campaign, do let me know – after all, there’s no such thing as bad publicity). Arguably, I suppose, fantasy and science-fiction do have an advantage in being set in a different world, where the rules of religion may be slightly different to our own; but take that too far and, of course, you're no longer writing Christian fiction.

Anyway, I think The Shack, taken as a complete story and not a series of too-short theological discussions, also succeeds in highlighting parts of God's nature. At the very least, it’s a story which, despite its flaws, got people thinking about God, and how they relate to Him (or, indeed, Her).

And that, in this writer’s humble opinion, is what Christian fiction should do.

Who is This God Person Anyway? (Fit the Seventh - The Fall)

2010-09-15T14:31:00.002+01:00

I haven't done one of these in literally years, and Becky's recent post about the risk of a Christian author's work turning people away from God just reminded me that it's actually quite fun to deliberately do the exact opposite...

Arthur listened for a short while, but being unable to understand the vast majority of what Ford was saying he began to let his mind wander, trailing his fingers along the edge of an incomprehensible computer bank, he reached out and pressed an invitingly large red button on a nearby panel. The panel lit up with the words Please do not press this button again.

(The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Similarly (well, similarly enough for the purposes of a blog post anyway) Eve, being unable to understand the vast majority of what God was saying, began to let her mind wander, reached out and took an invitingly large red fruit from a nearby tree...

OK it's a flawed parallel, not least because, unlike Arthur Dent, Eve had been warned of the consequences before she took the fruit. Arthur was technically tempted by the unknown rather than the explicitly forbidden, although I think a good rule of thumb would be that if you've never been in a spaceship before, pressing buttons as soon as you get the chance is not going to go down well with the spaceship's owners.

So, let us suspend our disbelief for a moment and agree that the temptations were broadly similar, and take a look at the outcomes. Now, poor old Eve, she would have been straight out that air-lock, snatched away from her space-borne Utopia with President Beeblebrox and made to fend for herself in the big wide universe. What does Arthur get?

A second chance.

To my thinking, that polite little warning the Heart of Gold gives him seems even more tempting than an unmarked red button. But he is given a pause to reconsider, reminded that buttons is spaceships are not there for the entertainment of earthmen, and asked not to do it again. He is given the Sirius Cybernetics equivalent of grace.

How many of us, when God's Heart of Gold tells us not to do something, think 'Well that wasn't so bad. I wonder if I can get away with it again...'? How many times can we press that button before the airlock opens and we, too, are snatched away from the Heart of Gold by certain death?

Hat tip also to Exploring Our Matrix for inspiring this post, and (indirectly) for the image :)

News from the podosphere

2010-09-13T19:10:00.000+01:00

OK, a couple of items of note from the podosphere (which, if you look, is just across the cyberstreet from where you are in the blogosphere):

First, Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing 2.0 has been up and running for a couple of weeks, with an improved website and regular podcasts. Not sure about the new cheesy music, but the talky bits are usually worth a listen (and the next season of Stargate Universe sounds well worth a watch too!).

Second, and more importantly, it somehow slipped my attention for about a week that Starship Sofa, which for some time has been all flushed with excitement at being the first podcast ever nominated for Hugo award, only went and actually won the thing. So congratulations to Tony C Smith and the Sofa crew, and to both my readers, get on over and have a listen some time :)

Friday Review: Batman Begins

2010-09-03T16:52:00.000+01:00

OK, so it's a bit retro now, but I've been catching up on some TV and movies lately, and slightly irreverant movie reviews are quite fun (and fill blog space). I guess most people with a vague interest will have seen it by now, so I won't waste too much time, but I will share a couple of thoughts with anyone who cares to read them.

Now, I'm no comic book or superhero expert, but I am reliably informed that the recent crop of superhero movies have been (on the whole) a lot better in terms of faithfulness to source material than a lot of earlier ones. Certainly the previous Batman franchise started off ok (the one, I believe, with Buster Keaton in the title role) but deteriorated into camp naffness. Batman Begins, on the other hand, gives a lot more time to developing Bruce Wayne as a character, and showing how he became Batman. It's quite a dark movie, and Batman is a hero with a dark side, but because we understand Wayne's back story, that is not gratuitous, and is exactly how it should be.

So we meet Bruce starting fights in a jail in the Himalayas, either by choice, or because he is truly lost, according to Merely Ducard, a stranger who turns up and invites Wayne to join the League of Shadows. The League follows a code which upholds the natural order of things, unbound by the hypocrisy of corporate Gotham City. And who, lost and in search of purpose, wouldn't be tempted to follow such a code?

It is during this journey that young Bruce, challenged to help the League destroy Gotham City, discovers the importance of compassion and decides instead to save the city; the vengeful nearly-villain becomes the hero and saviour of the city.

Batman Begins is a story of greatness (and goodness) coming out of tragedy and evil. It's a story of salvation, both of Bruce Wayne and Gotham City. It's a top-notch comic book/superhero flick. And it's got Charlie Croker in it, which can only be a good thing.

How did that happen?!

2010-09-01T19:26:00.001+01:00

I am reliably informed that it's September now. Autumn is coming. Back to school. The end of season Mini concours finals. And only two months to November.

So September 2010 for me means NaNoPrepMo; the start of preparations for National Novel Writing Month. Two paths lay before me: use NaNo 10 to finally make some progress on the almost legendary Project Seven; or another weird and wacky eight-bit adventure like I had such fun with last year.

Setting out to write something fun and a little bit silly is, perhaps, the easy option - last year's NaNo was crammed full of NaNo in-jokes and self-referential nonsense, but it didn't matter because it was supposed to be a humourous story. So doing another comic novel means I won't be worried about it taking a turn for the utterly ludicrous.

Project Seven, on the other hand, is a serious project. It has a serious subject matter. It has been on my heart to write this for some time (as regular readers may recall), and until I hear otherwise, I believe God wants me to write this book. But it has been extremely difficult, hence not yet having made it beyond a few notes, ideas, and false starts. I have resisted using this as a NaNo in previous years because I wanted to do it justice; this deserves to be more than a hastily knocked up third-rate short story with lots and lots and lots (getting into the spirit already) of padding.

But... Rule One of NaNoWriMo is that none of that matters. Just write! And maybe that's what I need to do. Maybe the only way I can make any progress with Project Seven is to force myself, through the medium of NaNo, to write something, and hope that it finds it's intended shape during the course of the month. (This is, in fact, what happened with my two successful NaNo's.)

NaNo rules allow for planning and preparation before November, but no actual writing. So I have two months to sift through all my notes, ideas, and half-written chapters for Project Seven (I promise not to just use them!), get myself some kind of rough outline, and do any other preparation I can...

Sorry, I've rambled... but that's why I'm a writer, my mind processes things like this as I write them down. I think I've just talked myself into doing Project Seven for NaNo... NaNoWriMo updates will be starting soon!

Starship Sofa and God in a box

2010-08-30T18:14:00.004+01:00

'Putting God in a box' seems to be one of those weird Christianese expressions we all know and tolerate, but what if you actually could put God in a box, and carry Him around with you to dispense useful advice throughout the day?

That is the premise of Personal Jesus by Paul Di Filippo, which you can catch on the latest Starship Sofa podcast. In the story, the discovery of some form of quantum handwavium makes possible the invention of the godPod, a portable device which allows the deity of your choice to speak directly to you through the trendy earbuds of your choice.

Allowing for some suspension of disbelief (for instance of the dubious notion of all the world's faith groups, not to mention the atheists, accepting the godPod), it raises some interesting points. The post-godPod world is Utopian; everyone follows the godPod's advice, and everyone lives harmoniously. In theory, Christians are already that connected to God, albeit many of us take our earbuds out for a lot of the time. Which no-one ever does in this story. There is a brief mention of the conflict between predestination (which always reminds me of third year Geography) and free will (which doesn't), but as in real life the subject is best glossed over before it makes your brain hurt.

Of course, a story like this gets the writer in me thinking: what if this were a more Christian story? What kind of responses would a godPod receive from across the spectrum of Christianity? What if more people started to ignore it? What if God suddenly did decide to use our gadgets to communicate with us? What place is left for faith without those rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty? And so on...

It's one of those stories that reminds you that fiction - even weird futuristic science fiction - does have the capacity to tell us something about faith and God, or just to make us think about those things. So if you have a spare half hour, dip into Starship Sofa and have a listen to the story, see what you think. If you have a spare couple of hours, why not listen to the whole episode!

Friday Review: The Enclave by Karen Hancock

2010-08-27T20:34:00.002+01:00

Before I start my way through the slight backlog of reviews here, I will let you know that voting for the Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction is open for a couple more days. If you’ve read at least two of the nominations, hop over and use your vote...

I will, of course, be supporting those in the science fiction corner, starting with this, Karen Hancock's second sci-fi tale.

The story opens with Lacey McHenry, latest recruit at the Kendall-Jakes Longevity Institute, butting heads with the Institute's rising star, Cameron Reinhardt. After Lacey is attacked late one night, the two of them form an uneasy alliance, and go on to uncover the shady side of the Institute's work.

This story is interwoven with a second, entirely seperate story, set in New Eden, the Enclave of the title, where a few lucky survivors shelter underground from the poisoned world above. As the novel progresses, puzzling links between the two threads become apparent.

There is a lot to like about this novel. Reinhardt is a possibly odd combination of soldier and genetic scientist, but as a Christian character he is nicely flawed. Lacey too is a lapsed Christian, and both of them have a believable and not overdone faith experience during the course of their adventures.

And the theme of genetic manipulation allows the Christian characters to think about that most useful Biblical word (to spec-fic writers anyway): Nephilim. The mysterious nature of these creatures makes them an easy subject for Christian sci-fi, but here they are nicely understated.

So this is my pick for the Clive Staples; a well-told science fiction adventure with believably flawed Christians. What more can a person ask for?

CSFF Blog Tour: Countless as the Stars

2010-08-25T09:42:00.000+01:00

Ok, that's enough beating about the bush! I hear you cry. Tell us about the book already!

Well some of you will already have ventured over to stevetrower.co.uk, and despite the persistent 'UNDER CONSTRUCTION' notices (the website building fairies are very busy this time of year, apparently) found out a little about Countless as the Stars. But for those not brave enough to do so, or just ambling on to this blog for the first time today, here's a little intro, and a bit more detail for those who visited the site and were curious.

First of all, Old Testament Space Opera. Basically, it's the Old Testament, re-told in a Space Opera-style setting (that's kind of Star Wars-esque, for the uninitiated). For a more detailed explanation of the idea click here.

Countless as the Stars is the first Old Testament Space Opera, and starts on Tellus, a world blighted by war and pollution, barely able to support it's dwindling population. Into this world the Eight Nations Space Agency introduces Litah, proclaiming it mankind's last hope for survival, promising a better life among the stars.

Our hero, Aidan Qqayle, a prominent follower of the Creed, has sworn to oppose this project, which puts technology in the place of God. But when Aidan receives his true calling, he is forced to re-evaluate his beliefs...

The story follows his adventure from Tellus into the unknown, where he is confronted with his own past, and the future of mankind. Epic space battles, the exploration of new worlds, personal trials, it's all here....

The Biblical tales are followed quite closely - the Tower of Babel, the accounts of Lot and Abraham, and shades of Moses - with embellishments to suit the sci-fi genre. It is my hope that by following the source material the story can shed some light on the nature of God, or at least some aspects of it, and that the embellishments will serve to keep the interest of those familiar with the overall story arc.

Slight warning: the story does contain sex, drugs and violence, but only in the context in which they appear in the Old Testament. Apparently their was enough to upset the old dear who runs our local Christian book shop, but not enough to create a publicity boosting backlash. *sigh*

Is that enough to whet your appetite? Well don't worry if it isn't, you can still go off and read the first chapter. Done that? Well here's the important part then: CSFF Blog Tour participants and visitors can get a copy for cheap! By which I mean £4.99 in the UK or £7.49 overseas (I think that's about US$11, including postage. Bargain eh?).

To get the Tour price you will need to click here, as the regular store page is still at full price.

Of course, if you want to support this struggling author, feel free to order at full price, buy multiple copies, give one to your publisher or agent.... and of course tell the rest of the tour how good it is!

Oh yes, and having a copy of the book will also allow you to read the first draft of the sequel, which was written as my 2008 NaNoWriMo project (those of you that have attempted NaNo will know what to expect!).

I'll keep the offer open until the next CSFF Blog Tour.

Once you've taken advantage of my extraordinary generosity, all that remains is to send you on your way...
Brandon Barr
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Jeff Chapman
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
George Duncan
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Mike Lynch
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Jason Waguespac
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Tuesday Tunes: Countless as the Stars

2010-08-24T14:32:00.000+01:00

I wasn't quite sure which way to go with the musical contribution to this month's CSFF blog tour; I could have attempted a Top Ten Countless songs, or songs about stars... I thought about doing a Top Ten of Top Tens... but since I've started down this road of blogging about Countless as the Stars, I figured the logical (and easiest) thing to do would be to re-post the soundtrack to the book.

I won't give away any blatant spoilers, but will use this to give you a few small clues about what sort of things to expect in the story.

1. Blondie - Union City Blue.
In my mind, the movie's opening credits roll over Aidan's C-Car journey through Unioncity in the opening chapter. Union City Blue is perfect here in every way. Available on Blondie - Greatest Hits.

2. Brian Eno - Under Stars.
Brian Eno's Apollo was composed as a soundtrack for the films of the Apollo moon landings, inspired by the feelings and sensations of space travel. This CD was the constantly playing during the writing of the spacebourne segements of Countless, the first of which is in Chapter 2.

3. Brian Eno - Music for Airports.
The background music for Chapter 3, which is set in a Spaceport. Pick any or all four tracks from Eno's first ambient offering.

4. Petra - No Doubt.
I wanted to have some Christian music on the soundtrack, and while Petra may be a bit old skool, I think this is a great song, especially for when Ade and Savana get some bad news. Available on No Doubt.

5. Petra - I Love You Lord.
A worship song that doesn't specifically mention Jesus for the Temple scene in Chapter 7. Nice interpretation too, all tribal drums and harmonies. Available on Petra Praise 2 - We Need Jesus.

6. Marston Smith - Stairway to Heaven.
I knew from early on that Stairway to Heaven would be like Litah's anthem. Playing at the launch party will be the definitive version by Marston Smith. Available on Forever Cello.

7. Thus Spake Zarathustra.
Perfect dramatic piece for the public unveiling of Tellus from space. OK, so I nicked the idea from Stanley Kubrick. Available on most sci-fi theme CDs.

8. Porcupine Tree - It Will Rain For A Million Years.
This is nice and moody, for Galford in Chapter 9. This is from one of the few non-instrumental CDs I like to play while writing, 'On the Sunday of Life...'

9. Enigma - The Gate.
Something else I can listen to while writing is Enigma's mix of ambient soundscapes, dance beats and wierd lyrics. The Gate seems an appropriate soundtrack for the discovery of a new planet. Available on The Screen Behind the Mirror.

10. Jean Michel Jarre - Last Rendez-Vous (Ron's Piece).
A poignant piece to be played at the first funeral on an alien planet. Available on Rendez-Vous.

11. Balanescu Quartet - Robots.
I just love the combination of the 'futuristic' Kraftwerk tune played by a string quartet! It's playing in the dress shop in Chapter 14. Available on Possessed.

12. Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene Part 1.
By Chapter 16 we are back in space travel mode. Although Apollo remains the main musical influence for these scenes, I didn't want Jarre to go overlooked. Available on Oxygene.

13. Brian Eno - Come With Us.
This slightly wierd and sinister track from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts accompanies Dan Straker's return to the Black City in Chapter 19.

14. Los Chicharrons - Chicharron N Boogaloo (Groove Armada Mix).
For the action sequences in Chapter 21. I don't think this mix is widely available; the original is on Conga Heaven Bongo Hell, but probably won't have the same effect.

15. REM - Everybody Hurts.
Arguably REMs finest moment, here for Blaise in Chapters 23 & 24. Available on Automatic for the People.

16. Lard - Forkboy.
Film buffs may recognise this as the riot theme from Natural Born Killers. It serves much the same purpose here. Available on The Last Temptation of Reid.

17. Groove Armada - At the River.
Sublime chillout track by one of the UK's most popular dance acts. For when Aidan is at the, erm, river. Available on The Best of Groove Armada.

18. Brian Eno - Matta.
This track has the kind of eerie feel and wierd noises required for a forest world. Also from Apollo.

19. Porcupine Tree - Voyage 34.
A musical interpretation of an LSD trip was all I had to go on for Chapter 27. It wasn't something I wanted to research that thoroughly. Brilliantly now available on CD - I have the two seperate versions on 12 inch vinyl. As an alternative, Queen Quotes Crowley from 'On the Sunday of Life...' is suitably psychadelic.

20. The Kinks - Days.
Classic tune for, well, Chapter 30. (Don't want to spoil anything this close to the end!) Find a copy on most Kinks compilations, or the 3-disc edition of The Village Green Preservation Society. Oh, and on no account must you substitute a cover version.

21. Steve - Smile.
Finishing with another Christian band who were cool at the time... a mellow, upbeat song for the final scene. Available on Falling Down.

There's a slightly abbreviated Spotify version here for those able to use it (not all the tracks listed are available on Spotify).

This post is part of the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour free-for-all month, which continues here:
Brandon Barr Thomas Clayton Booher Keanan Brand Grace Bridges Beckie Burnham Morgan L. Busse Jeff Chapman CSFF Blog Tour Stacey Dale D. G. D. Davidson Jeff Draper George Duncan April Erwin Andrea Graham Tori Greene Ryan Heart Timothy Hicks Becky Jesse Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Mike Lynch Rebecca LuElla Miller New Authors Fellowship John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder James Somers Speculative Faith Rachel Starr Thomson Jason Waguespac Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour: Countless as the Stars

2010-08-23T16:57:00.001+01:00

It was inevitable really, and the tour has finally made it's way round to the next big thing in Christian sci-fi waiting eagerly to leave these shores: Countless as the Stars, by some English bloke you've never heard of.

I'm kidding, of course; that was completely evitable, and what has actually happened is that for August the tourists have been let off the leash to do their own thing. It's like that day in Junior school when the teacher announced that you could pick your own topic to study for the next term. I did aeroplanes, because I hadn't heard of Christian Sci-fi when I was ten. It was quite good as I recall, helped along no doubt by a teacher who knew less about the subject than me and was unable to correct any factual inaccuracies.

On the wild assumption that nobody is here to read a brief history of civil aviation in the British Isles, I've decided to take the opportunity for a little uncharacteristic self-promotion. This is somewhat new territory for me, so please be kind and visit www.stevetrower.co.uk and find out all about Old Testament Space Opera and what it means for you.

I'll be back over the next couple of days with more blatant self-promotion, and as there is nobody that knows more about Old Testament Space Opera than me, there will be no factual inaccuracies to pick up on.

In the meantime, pick a few links at random from the list below, for what will truly be a magical mystery tour...

Brandon Barr
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Grace Bridges
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Jeff Chapman
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
George Duncan
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Mike Lynch
Rebecca LuElla Miller
New Authors Fellowship
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Jason Waguespac
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
KM Wilsher

Phursday Photos: Wheels

2010-07-29T21:52:00.002+01:00

SpiritBlade Underground

2010-07-28T18:22:00.000+01:00

Allow me to take this post to apologise for a terrible oversight on my part. I don't think I have made enough mentions of the work of SpiritBlade Productions here, which is really quite poor when you think that the purpose of this blog is to discuss Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

So I guess I'll mention them here: SpiritBlade Productions specialise in full cast audio dramas on CD and download. I've been a bit slack I must admit, and only listened to the first SpiritBlade so far, although I think I'm going to have to dip into Pilgrim's Progress soon...

Anyway, the reason I mention it now is that there is now a SpiritBlade forum... a cool place for Christian geeks to hang out! Yay! Oh yes, and you'll probably have noticed the podcast in the sidebar here, if you're in the habit of scrolling that far.

Was that enough of a plug? Go check it out anyway, and if you like what you see, maybe I'll see you on the forum. You'll recognise me, I'm sure.

Tuesday Tunes: The Kinks Choral Collection

2010-07-27T21:53:00.000+01:00

Regular readers of Tuesday Tunes may recall that I'm a fan of the obscure cover version, and of the Kinks. So how could I resist this, Ray Davies performing some of his best tunes with the Crouch End Festival Chorus?

It has to be said that the concept works best on the mellower tunes, and tracks like You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night, while making for interesting arrangements, don't work quite as well as, for instance, Days. On the other hand, Waterloo Sunset, one of the best pop songs of all time, transcends pop songdom by the addition of a choral backing, and Village Green, similarly, highlights just how good Ray Davies' tunes actually are.

And as an added bonus, the Village Green Medley is actually six full songs, rather than snippets as the title might suggest, so rather than the ten (or 11 on the special edition, which starts with Postcards From London with Chrissie Hynde) tracks listed on the sleeve, you get 15.

Basically, I totally love this CD. If you like Ray Davies and the Kinks, or bizarre cover versions, or (it could happen!) the Crouch End Festival Chorus, this is essential listening!

CSFF Blog Tour: Starlighter by Bryan Davis

2010-07-21T18:50:00.001+01:00

It is an important and popular fact that I once scored a B in English class for a report on a book I never read. I won't divulge what that book was, in case I am chased down by an angry mob and forcibly removed from the blog tour for my flagrant disrespect for literature, but in order to redress the balance somewhat I am deliberately not reviewing Starlighter by Bryan Davis, which I also haven't read.

What I have read, however, is one or two of the other posts on the tour. See, I'm not a total slacker! And to prove it, here are my personal tour highlights:

Leighton's review in two parts;
Snuffles the Dragon's completely unbiased review;
John W. Otte's geek dad post;
Krystine Kercher enthusing about black dragon's eggs;
an interview by Rachel Starr Thomson;
not to mention the handy list of other links gathered in one place, namely the Galactic Overlord's Blog.
You could also stop by the author's blog, just to see what else is on his mind.

And when you're done, Starlighter will no doubt be available at your favourite purveyor of young adult fantasy fiction.

Those of you still wishing to follow the extended tour, please form an orderly queue and step this way:
Brandon Barr Beckie Burnham Jeff Chapman R. L. Copple CSFF Blog Tour Stacey Dale D. G. D. Davidson Jeff Draper April Erwin Andrea Graham Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Dawn King Leighton Jane Maritz Rebecca LuElla Miller John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Crista Richey SarahFlan Chawna Schroeder Rachel Starr Thomson Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Jill Williamson KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

2010-07-20T22:55:00.003+01:00

This week your CSFF Blog Tour is looking at Starlighter by Bryan Davis, the first volume in the Dragons of Starlight series. And since we've already covered the Top Ten Dragon Songs, so...
It's the Top Ten Starlight Songs!

10. Savatage: Starlight
Proper 80s rock... these guys sound as scary as their name!

9. Minus 8: Starlight
That's better, this weeks first piece of electronica... not at all scary!

8. Snowgoons: Starlight
Possibly the first German hip-hop outfit to feature in a Top Ten...

7. The Supermen Lovers: Starlight
Possibly the first French act to feature in a Top Ten, with this one-hit wonder from 2001.

6. Indochine: Starlight
Possibly the second French act to feature in a Top Ten, with this combination of catchy chorus and incomprehensible verses.

5. Lou Reed & John Cale: Starlight
Is anyone spotting a theme yet?

4. Electric Light Orchestra: Starlight
I love these guys!

3. Slash featuring Myles Kennedy: Starlight
Nice little slice of guitar tunage here by that bloke from out of Guns n Roses.

2. Dead Composers: Starlight
Nicely chilled out electronica with weird foreign lyrics.

1. Muse: Starlight
And what better way to finish than with some Devon style indie rock.

Here's your Spotify playlist: Starlight Top Ten. As ever, the unSpotified among you will need to skip to rest of the tour:
Brandon Barr Beckie Burnham Jeff Chapman R. L. Copple CSFF Blog Tour Stacey Dale D. G. D. Davidson Jeff Draper April Erwin Andrea Graham Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Dawn King Leighton Jane Maritz Rebecca LuElla Miller John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Crista Richey SarahFlan Chawna Schroeder Rachel Starr Thomson Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Jill Williamson KM Wilsher