A short post

I was planning to post the next part of Who is This God Person Anyway today, but it threatened to turn into something of substance and depth, so I figured it deserved a bit more thought rather than being unleashed on the world as a half finished stream of thoughts, as is my usual blogging technique :) Hopefully it will be worth the wait!

In other news, my website is temporarily offline; I've switched hosts so I can put a proper shop page in and a whole bunch of other stuff that I couldn't before. I always liked the idea of providing DVD-style extra features - as done brilliantly by Jasper Fforde - and if I can cobble together enough material I might do something along those lines too. With any luck, pages of some sort will start appearing over the next week or so, although the full revamp I've been promising it for ages will take a while.

Oh, and for those eagerly anticipating the arrival of Primeval overseas: don't hold your breath. We've had three episodes and I'm getting more apathetic towards it already. Not a good sign after a promising start. When's the next season of Doctor Who due...?

CSFF Blog Tour: Where The Map Has Still Ended

In case it had escaped your notice, I am a bit of a writer. I know that because my name is on the booklist at WhereTheMapEnds, which you should of course look at as a detailed guide to Christian Spec Fic, but is not the main point of this post.

As a writer, I have spent many a happy hour fiddling with the various world building, character creating and story generating gizmos collected on the site. Actually, these are probably more useful to a bored non-writer wasting a few online minutes at work, than to a writer like myself, prone to procrastination, a cure for which is about the only thing absent from Jeff's Tools for Writers section.

If you haven't already, go and have a play. On your way, you might like to take in the following stops on the tour:

Grace Bridges reviews on of Jeff's own works;

Gene Curtis comments on Marcher Lord Press;

Jeff seems to have done interviews left, right and centre;

Nicole and Wayne Thomas Batson got missed from the full list yesterday which is still there if you want more blogs to read!

CSFF Blog Tour: Where the Map Ends

So this month we find ourselves WhereTheMapEnds. I thought we'd been here already on the tour, but, I guess not, huh?

This being day two of the tour, you will of course have all been to the site already.

What do you mean you've been too busy reading blogs? Tsk. Look, go there now. Clicky clicky. But don't forget to come back.... Oh, too late, they've gone. Oh well, at least with all that extra traffic, Jeff will be inspired to get those long awaited forums going. Won't you? I mean, look at the queue to get on there: ;)
Nissa Annakindt
Jim Black
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Timothy Wise

Who is This God Person Anyway? (Fit the Third - Exodus)

Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM."

- Exodus 3:13-15

"My name is not important."

- Slatibartfast

And so we are introduced to the architects of the Earth, first in the Bible, and then in Hitch-hikers. And, apart from that, and being suitably mysterious about their names, they have one or two other things in common. Slartibartfast, in the TV series, is every child's image of God: a kindly old gent with long white hair and matching beard. And both, having created the world, then go on to save it.

But first the creation bit, and I think Slarti inadvertently solves one of modern Christianity’s ongoing debates:

“[New Earth is] only half completed I’m afraid – we haven’t even finished
burying the artificial dinosaur skeletons in the crust yet, then we have the
Tertiary and Quaternary Periods of the Cenozoic Era to lay down, and…”

I like the image of God’s creation as a vast building project (Magrathea’s factory floor was a highlight of the so-so movie version for me too) and, well, why not? It’s gotta make as much sense as the more widely accepted theories.

Millions of years later, Slartibartfast returns to Earth and, in the absence of a scarf-wearing, jelly baby-toting saviour, single-handedly (well, Trillian and Arthur help a bit) saves the Universe from the evils of cricket. Sorry, Krikkit.

So there you have it: a creator turned saviour whose name, at least in its original form, we dare not speak.

Finally, to bring us back to the ever-so-tenuous Exodus link (you think that’s tenuous, wait till next week…) here’s Bop Ad, from Life, the Universe and Everything:

[Slartibartfast] was marching out on to the pitch with a terrible purpose in his gait, his hair, beard and robes swept behind him, looking very much as Moses would have looked if Sinai had been a well-cut lawn instead of, as it is more usually represented, a fiery smoking mountain.

Feeling Strangely Bloggy

Yes, it's been a while, but I'm in a bloggy mood today. Maybe someone missed me and started channelling their mental energies at me. Well, whatever, I'm back again now - some minor connection hitches with my shiny new Vista-powered lappie now fixed. (So far, incidentally, I have not gone 'Wow' a single time while using it.)

Oh, and in the process of shifting files onto said new laptop, I mislaid my favourites list, which included a bunch of really interesting stuff I had to blog about. No, really, it did!

So instead I shall mention the highly unlikely event that happened over the weekend: ITV1 showed something good. Obviously startled by the success of Doctor Who, ITV have brought us a new Saturday teatime sf series, Primeval, the basic premise of which is that there are anomalies in time/space through which people can travel, and in the first episode, dinosaurs can stroll into the Forest of Dean. Not sure how many weeks we can watch dinosaurs turn up in unexpected places, but there is a lost-in-the-past-spouse story arc to keep us busy too. The writers have tried to inject a little humour into the proceedings too - witness the boy fighting off a Gorgonopsid with a toy light saber. I look forward to seeing where the series goes from here, anyway. Oh, and there's one of the girls from S Club 7, who drives a Mini Cooper, which is a bonus.

Speaking of Minis on telly, the new series of Life on Mars also just started, so Yoda's small screen debut is just a few weeks away for UK viewers. Unless they cut his scene. Erk.

I think that went quite well. Maybe I shall feel bloggy more often now.

The Tour Within

Looks like a return to form here then... another missed post and now a token contribution to the blog tour. I'm striken by plague, and I can't even bring myself to create an amusingly off the wall post for the tour.

So, in the unlikely event that you've stumbled in here from somewhere unconnected to the tour, why not take a look at Wayne Thomas Batson's Door Within trilogy: The Door Within, Rise of the Wyrm Lord and The Final Storm.
Or visit The Door Within web site and the author's blog.

And when you've done that, check out some of the other blogs on the tour. I particularly recommend the interview with Aidan Thomas (star of the trilogy) at Unseen Worlds. Nice idea for a post, might have to pinch it if I can persuade one of my characters to co-operate.

Your tour continues this way:
Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Robin Parrish
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver

Space-filling post of the month

Sorry, Wednesday's post got lost somewhere as I was too busy messing about with 'new' Blogger's bells and whistles. Not that I've really started using them yet, but I'll get round to it.

Anyway, some fun stuff I've been noticing:
Speculative Catholic, having returned from sabbatical a while back, has gone all Martian on us. Some interesting links about Martian calendars and liturgy, if you're into that sort of thing.
And over at the Lost Genre Guild, Andrea Graham wonders why we can't place King David in the midst of a high-tech future, in outer space, or even on another planet? Biblical science-fiction? Almost like sort of a, um, Old Testament Space Opera, maybe? Finest idea I've heard in a while....
Oh, and I've been watching the blog of Chris Walley lately. You know, my nemesis. (Not sure he knows that, mind!) And, much to my disappointment, it reads like he might actually be a decent bloke. He says some funny things. He's frustrated with Britain's Christian so-called-booksellers (and him, a proper author and all). So, since I can't really dislike the man for anything other than being Welsh, I guess I'm forced to admit that I'm just plain jealous.
Grrr.

The Patron Saint of Plagues, by Barth Anderson

You know those books where nothing much seems to happen, but you keep reading because the characters become real and the writing is just so darn good?

This is not one of those books. This is one of those books where nothing much seems to happen, but you keep reading because you promised to review it on your blog.

That's not to say it wasn't well written - there are flashes of brilliance, especially in the couple of chapters that describe the progress of a cells as they travel through the human body, and some of the insults from 'cuss-poet' Isabel Khushub are, well, cuss-poetry.

Anyway, the story. It's about 2050, the US has collapsed in on itself and Mexico is rising under a sort of Catholic/fascist dictatorship. Into all this enters a bio-engineered plague, targeting native Mexicans, and all-American hero Henry Stark, who, assisted by his former flame the aforementioned cuss-poet Khushub, obviously sets out to save the day.

There are a few good sf ideas thrown in too; as well as the obligatory flying motorbikes, the pilone network and associated 'wetware' - a sort of internet browser hard-wired into the brain - plays an integral part in the story. Whether the tell-tale scar left behind by its installation is in fact the mark of the beast, has nothing to do with the story at all and is just an interesting thought that occurred to me.

I think I may have missed the point with this book. All the Spanish words and catholic stuff may just have switched my brain off, but it failed to grip me. The characters failed to engage me, and ultimately I don't think there was enough going on to fill 370 pages.

Barth Anderson, by all accounts, is a short fiction author of some renown; unfortunately I think this, his debut novel, falls short of its potential. Must try harder!

Who is This God Person Anyway? (Fit the Second - Genesis)

In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.
Many races believe that it was created by some sort of god, though the Jatravartid people of Viltvodle VI believe that the entire Universe was in fact sneezed out of the nose of a being calle dthe Great Green Arkleseizure.
However, the Great Green Arkleseizure Theory is not widely accepted outside Viltvodle VI and so, the Universe being the puzzling place it is, other explanations are constantly being sought.

I suppose, to a radical atheist, this may not seem much more bizzarely improbable than 'God said "Let there be light," and there was light.' But the Universe according to Hitchhikers got into its current state through evolution, which is referred to repeatedly, from the throw-away gag:

Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans.

to the creation of the super-evolutionary Haggunenons, who will 'quite frequently evolve several times over lunch', and the disruption of evolution on Earth by the arrival of the Golgafrinchans on the 'B' Ark.

But I'm not going to embark on a creation/evolution debate - personally I don't care how the Universe was created, the fact is it's here and we've got to deal with it. Instead (and I may end up jumping forward a bit here) consider:

"...you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

- Genesis 2:17, NIV

and consider the fact that, in trying to establish the Question to the Ultimate Answer, Arthur Dent ultimately secures his own death. Although, of course, it is a well-established fact that the Question and the Answer cannot both exist within the same Universe, presumably because such knowledge would lead to certain death on a cosmic scale. And finally, another quote from DNA on the subject of knowledge:

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

Incidentally, I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up follwoing the books of the Bible - any suggestions for what Leviticus should cover will be gratefully received.

On Precogs and Prophets

So, following on from watching Minority Report, I thought I would take a quick look at the 'meantal powers' sub-genre - that branch of science fiction which tells of Homo superior in all its forms, endowed with powers including telepathy, telekenesis and precognition.

Centuries ago anyone claiming to have such powers would have been burnt at the stake, condemned by the Church as a witch. Although demonic assistance isn't credited quite as publicly as it might have been 300 years ago, anyone claiming to be able to move an object purely by the power of his mind is generally considered to be either a bit mad or some kind of occultist (assuming that we discount stage magicians, of course).

So, are we treading on thin ice if we consider these subjects in Christian fiction? Well, apparently not; I'm currently reading Kathy Tyers' Firebird trilogy, in which the pseudo-Christian good guys are chock full of funky mental powers. Precognition, however, is seen as something of a dark art even among the Sentinels.

It might be interesting to take some of science-fiction's ideas on precognition - Can the future be changed? Is any such vision destined to become a self-fulfilling prophecy? - and mix them in with a theme of divine prophecy. Would the same rules apply to a divine prophecy? And how would anyone know what is from God and what is from a genetically-enhanced human? What if God used a genetically-enhanced human as his prophet? And so on.

In the world of the Old Testament Space Opera, meanwhile, Joseph (he of the posh jacket and the dream-readings) becomes some kind of telepath or precog; this gives those around him cause to turn on him, and him the ability to survive what might befall him when they do.

There are other super-human abilities that sf has given us too: levitation, transportation, mind-control... and that's before we dig into the world of the comic-book super-hero...

Who is This God Person Anyway? (Fit the First - DNA)

Douglas Noel Adams was famously an atheist. He was fascinated by religion in all its forms, but did not consider his atheism in terms of belief or non-belief. He was, in his own words, 'convinced that there is no God'. Which could be why, in the first sentence of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series, we are introduced to Oolon Coluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters: Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes, and Who is This God Person Anyway?

I've long fantasised about writing a book with that last title. A volume on theology, perhaps, in the style of Hitchhiker's. A sort of Hitchhiker's Guide to Eternity. The Gospel According to Zaphod Beeblebrox, that sort of thing. Maybe I should give up on science fiction and set about my own trilogy of philosophical blockbusters. For now, though, I'll settle with this little series of posts.

Douglas' facination with religion is apparent throughout the Hitchhiker trilogy, from that opening sentence to the wierd missionary antics of Huma Kavula in the movie version, and then overspills into the world of Dirk Gently. And that Hitchhikers has at its heart a quest for the meaning of life almost goes without saying. Some of his writings seem to have been adopted into atheist folklore:

...if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language.
Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.

The argument goes something like this: I refuse to prove that I exist, says God, for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.
But, says Man, the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.
Oh dear, says God, I hadn't thought of that, and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

It's hard to fault the logic there, and Adams has brilliantly twisted a 'theist' argument to suit his own atheist worldview. This is, of course, a load of fetid dingoes kidneys, not least because God has never, to my knowledge, refused to prove his existence, or used the 'proof denies faith' argument in his own defence. On top of which we could always use the counter argument - that proof does not deny faith, but in fact confirms it.

It is just possible, of course, that Adams used this illustration simply for the sake of a joke, as the passage finishes:

Oh, that was easy, says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.

Well, that about wraps it up for atheists, it would seem.

Further musings on the Gospel according to Douglas Adams will follow next week, in the meantime you can get an insight into his beliefs (or convictions) in his interview with The American Atheist here, also published in The Salmon of Doubt.

Evil Santa, Alien Pop and the Apocalypse

So, Christmas has been and gone, and with it, Doctor Who sealed its place as part of it. After just two Christmas specials, the good Doctor is almost as traditional as the Queen.

The most recent special wasn't as good as the previous year's homage to Hitchhiker's, but the evil Santa's were back, there was a star-shaped spaceship over London, and (this being TV-land) it snowed on Christmas Eve. And the good Doctor saved the world while dealing with the loss of Rose, which happened immediately prior to this episode. There was even a subtle nod towards Torchwood, which also ended its first season this week.

At its best, Torchwood has been great viewing. Unfortunately it has had more than its fair share of mediocre episodes, and really, someone should tell the makers that adult TV doesn't have to include sex every week. Or, in fact, at all.

For me, Torchwood is at its best when trying to be the Welsh Angel. And sure enough, the season ended with a barely averted apocalypse straight out of the Buffyverse. I have to mention the ending, but I don't want to spoil it, so highlight the next bit if you want to know why.

The final episode starts with Ianto reading from the book of Daniel, as an introduction to the coming apocalypse. Imprisoned under the rift, and inadvertantly released in the last episode, is Abaddon, a big scary monster that instantly kills anything its shadow touches. Up to and including Captain Jack, who sacrifices his apparently immortal self to save the world. Gwen, still believing him to be immortal, spends 'days' with his corpse in the Torchwood morgue, until he awakes only to be spirited away by a passing TARDIS.

You can see why I had to mention it.

There are plenty of loose ends, and a second series has been commissioned. If we're lucky, the series will find its identity and Captain Jack and his crew will become more than two-dimensional characters who do little more than work and sleep with each other.

Elsewhere in the Whoniverse, it being the holidays, I managed to catch the pilot of the Sarah Jane Adventures. I wouldn't normally comment on childrens TV - and it was sillier than the most kiddy-friendly Doctor Who stories - but it seems the people in the Doctor Who spin-off department have swallowed a Bible, or at least a book on end-times prophecy. So we end up with Mrs Wormwood, a nasty alien come to take over the Earth by putting alien DNA in fizzy drinks. Oh, and there's an all-knowing kid created in a laboratory who may have some important role to play as the thing pans out.

Just another Christmas in the Whoniverse then...

2007 and all that...

Right, so, I'm back, and hopefully will manage to keep things ticking over on the blog front. I'd make that a new years resolution, except I actually want to keep it up.

So, what can we expect from the new year at OT Space Opera?

If all goes to plan, I can resume three posts a week, to keep the place fresh while still, hopefully, having enough relevant stuff to comment on. You may even find a semi-regular review slot.

One interesting thing that has cropped up once or twice over the life of this blog is the treatment of religion by atheist writers - for instance, Joss Whedon's creation of Shepherd Book for Firefly. For a while I've thought about taking a closer look at the concepts of god and religion as featured in the works of Douglas Adams. So I've decided to just that, because, well, it's my blog and I can do what I like. :-p

In between which I will, no doubt, pass comment on other science fiction related matters, and if I really put my mind to it, write some sf myself. No promises there though.

Oh, and the CSFF blog tour will stop by here too, of course, adding the occasional mention of fantasy into the mix.

Hey, that almost sounds good... now how am I going to keep it up?

December CSFF tour: a semi-relevant post

Giants, sorcerors, talking birds, magic cloaks... what is this, a Harry Potter post?

Well, no, actually, because all these things appear in the Birthright Project, a Christian science fiction series. It does have numerous fantasy elements in it, and is aimed at the same teenage audience as young Harry, but at the same time blurs the line between sf and fantasy.

Set on what appears to be post-apocalyptic Earth, the sorcerors are using what remains of science to create transmogrified creatures - including some unfortunate humans, who become the even more unfortunate gigants. The birds don't really talk, but can be understood by the birthrighters, and therefore act as a sort of messenger service. Like a carrier pigeon with better security. And the magic cloaks? Well, it seems God has been good enough to provide the birthrighters with a magic spindle, with which they can create 'out of time' fabric, which renders them invisible, impervious to the passage of time, or, apparently, whatever the plot seems to require. Arguably this is a cop-out, but this is Christian spec-fic, which by its nature assumes the existence of an all-powerful God who can, should he see fit, produce from thin air a talking donkey, a never-ending Mars bar, or even a magic spindle. So why not.

Anyway, I promised semi-relevance, and semi-relevant I intend to be.

As is my usual slacker way, I haven't read the book in question. I have, on this occasion, read the first book in the series, Outriders, on which this little intro to the world of Trackers has been based.

So I suppose it would be semi-relevant to add a few words about Outriders.

Well, it's got post-apocalyptic decay, genetic mutants and hints of sci-fi technology hidden in the ark. It's got sword and sorcery coming out its ears. It's got angels and demons battling over the lives of our heroes. In fact, you'd be hard pushed to squeeze much more into a Christian science-fantasy story, really. Oh, and don't forget to throw in some teen angst, questioned faith, and romantic dilemmas. That's not to say it suffers from cramming all that in. Most of the time it all seems to fit together in a way that makes sense, and the action clips along at a decent enough pace to keep the interest up.

Young adult novels such as this are not normally my thing, but that is actually the only reason I can come up with not to go away and read Trackers some time soon.

Is it that time again already?

Hello? Um. Is this thing working? Right. Where did I leave everything? OK. Sorry, I took rather longer off than I expected. Still didn't finish that NaNo mind. Tsk, eh?

Anyway, here I am, ready for the final day of the December CSFF blog tour. Ooops. Still, seems as good a time as any to drag myself back into Blogoland, especially since I have something semi-relevant to post this time round (shock!).

This month the tour is looking at Trackers, the second volume in the Birthright Project sequence by Kathryn Mackel. So here, as a sort of prelude, is a list of links. (This is not the semi-relevant thing.)

Kathryn Mackel's website
Birthright Project website
Trackers on Amazon
Outriders, volume one of the series, on Amazon

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

An apology to Landon Snow

Mr Snow,

I know you are more than worthy of comment here on my humble little blog. But the thing is, you see, your timing's all wrong. It's November - it's NaNoWriMo, and I'm doing really badly at keeping the pace with that too.

I've had a poorly one year old to look after, which meant I had at least a day's work to catch up on in NaNo & blogging time. And then she gave whatever it was to me, so I was completely useless over the weekend. I even went to bed before Torchwood. That's how bad it is.

So, I'm sorry, Mr Snow, that I don't really have time to comment on your exploits.

Apologies also to R K Mortenson, for not being able to plug his latest book.

Don't worry though, there are a few people out in Bloggoland doing just that. Lucky escape for me there are more reliable folks like Jim Black, Jackie Castle, Valerie Comer, Frank Creed, Gene Curtis, Chris Deanne, Janey DeMeo, April Erwin, Beth Goddard, Todd Michael Greene, Leathel Grody, Karen Hancock, Katie Hart, Sherrie Hibbs, Sharon Hinck, Joleen Howell, Jason Joyner, Karenee, Oliver King, Tina Kulesa, the entire Lost Genre Guild, Kevin Lucia, Rachel Marks, Shannon McNear, Rebecca LuElla Miller, Caleb Newell, John Otte, Cheryl Russel, Hannah Sandvig, Mirtika Schultz, Stuart Stockton, those nice Speculative Faith people, my nemesis Chris Walley, and of course Daniel I. Weaver.

Further apologies to anyone who has just read all this.

Sorry.

Quick NaNo note

As I may have mentioned, I took the lunatic step of signing up for this, and in fact got off to a good start. Whether I'll keep that up or not is a different matter.

Anyway, if I'm not around much over the next few weeks, well, you probably won't notice any difference, but this time there is a reason.

I'll be mucking about in the Bermuda Triangle of fiction that lies between Jasper Fforde, Robert Rankin and Douglas Adams.

So far Per Ardua ad Chipping Sodbury has an impressive 4004 words - some of which actually make some kind of sense - and occasional snippets will be posted here, so as not to lower the tone of this blog. The prologue is there now.

...and Angels

What first came to mind for "angels" is the moment when Kosh reveals himself to save Sheridan, and he looks like an angelic being. But that's only because Mir jumped the gun yesterday. Nice to get a Bab5 reference occasionally though.

Anyway, Angels. Messengers of an almighty God, purveyors of Providence, proof of the unprovable, denizens of a supernatural spiritual reality. So goes the DKA blurb for them, anyway. And in Christian fiction you can put them anywhere (well, within reason). I've got them in Countless as the Stars.

Spiritual warfare made real was pretty much the mainstay of Christian spec-fic a few years ago thanks to Frank Peretti, and still crops up here and there, if usually in a smaller, less in your face way.

I've seen sf stories that take the Nephilim as their inspiration - would those 'sons of God' who paired off with the daughters of men have been angels? Or aliens? Are angels aliens? Are aliens angels?

Oh, my heads spinning with wacky ideas again. And that's before we even mention fallen angels. Is it NaNo time yet?

But as far as science fiction and angels go, I reckon the Simpsons had the start of a good story.

Now, all that remains for thos month's blog tour is for me to give you a little nudge in the direction of these other participants:
Jim Black Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Kameron M. Franklin Beth Goddard Todd Michael Greene Leathel Grody Karen Hancock Elliot Hanowski Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Joleen Howell Jason Joyner Karen and at Karen's myspace Oliver King Tina Kulesa Kevin Lucia Rachel Marks Shannon McNear Rebecca LuElla Miller Caleb Newell Cheryl Russel Mirtika Schultz Stuart Stockton Speculative Faith Frank Creed Christina Deanne Lost Genre Guild John Otte

...Knights...

Knights in science fiction?

Um.... errr....

With swords and everything?

Hmmmm.....

What, some sort of laser sword, perhaps?

Ummmm.....

No. Next thing you know you'll be giving them magic powers and stuff. It'll never work.

Dragons...

OK, we know that Dragons, Knights and Angels is just a name, and that stories appearing in it don't have to feature dragons, knights, or angels. After all, as Johne Cook says in the DKA vision, that would be silly. Which really is tempting for someone like me who happens rather to like silly.

But that's another post. Or perhaps a DKA submission. Or a NaNo project, even.

This is the blog tour, and an opportunity for me to take the subject and ramble off on a tangent. If you want to know about DKA, go off and read Mirathon. You want intelligent discussion sparked by the subject, Becky's got it. You want to try and cram dragons, knights and angels into sensible science fiction, well, I'll give that a go. But bear in mind, I do like silly.

So, dragons.

At first glimpse the exclusive domain of the fantasy tale, how do we get these mythical creatures to play a sensible role in science fiction?

This would be one of those areas where sf and fantasy overlap, as in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern sequence. Here a world which wouldn't look out of place in a fantasy novel is created by colonists from Earth, who create a race of dragons by genetic manipulation. Sounds like science fiction to me.

As a child, I was briefly fascinated by the 'science' of dragons. The biology of how such a thing could actually exist. That was before I knew anything about biology, of course, like how boring the lessons were. But it is science, and if someone were to dig up a dragon's remains somewhere, you could have fun exploring the science of dragons. You could always dig up a live dragon, in a Reign of Fire sort of way.

So how do we bully all this into a Christian story? There's plenty of Biblical monsters to choose from - the Leviathon from Job, Jonah's big fish (well, have you ever seen a dragon?), and dragons (be they physical or metaphorical) in Revelation. You could throw Christians to the dragons like a Roman Emperor. And the 'dragon as a representation of general nastiness' theme was donw by Frank Peretti a while ago in The Oath.

'Here be dragons' they wrote on maps in days of yore, and who knows, maybe those early spacefarers will use the same phrase, harking back to their ancestors, to denote areas of as yet unexplained danger. The dragons could be anything. And that (he says, miraculously returning to the point) is the way DKA see them. Johne Cook says:

To my way of thinking, dragons represent the mystical, the unknown world, dangerous and magical and huge beyond reckoning.

And in science fiction, that leaves a lot for the imagination to play with.