Opinions Below. Enter at Own Risk.

The book Dale Carnegie never wrote: How to Lose Friends and Alienate Enemies.

Explicitly or implicitly, we learn this throughout life: If we want people to like us, we should avoid speaking of controversial matters, such as money, taxes, politics, religion, child-rearing, education or legal systems, immigration or national defense, and so on.

If I were a better marketer, I might avoid those topics as well, and concentrate only on publishing or writing or book reviews -- but those can be nasty, too, and bring wrath upon the reviewer. Nowhere in life are we truly free of conflict or of running afoul of someone else.*

A conversation began on Facebook when a fellow Christian and writer posted a link to an article about the recent Planned Parenthood scandal and his comments about the article. (They were not favorable.)

Someone replied that, although he abhors Planned Parenthood and their sale of body parts (which the organization denies, but is implicit in the grand jury indictments of the filmmakers whose secret  videos captured the vile practice**), Christians should back down and compromise, because the pro-life side is losing the fight and should try other tactics. Also, he wasn't sure 1) morality can be legislated, and 2) when a fetus becomes a child.

My response:

Morality is legislated every day, whether we agree with that morality or not. Case in point: the recent Supreme Court ruling on marriage. Laws themselves are the imposition of morality upon a nation, and by those laws the legal system determines guilt or innocence. Therefore, the argument "you can't legislate morality" is invalid.

However, the DNA is inarguable: A human child is a human child at conception. It is not a fully-developed human even when it's born, because it matures as it grows. Therefore, to ask at which stage of development it becomes a child is to ask the wrong question. (When does it become an adult? Well, that varies. ;) )

As for Christians taking the hard line and being uncompromising, we have an excellent example in Christ Himself. He didn't compromise, and it killed Him. But that's one of the reasons we follow Him: He loved not His life unto death and He took upon Himself the sins of us all, not backing down, not compromising, but doing what must be done in order to save any who would call on His name.

There are times to back away and try another tack. There are times to stand firm and not gloss over the ugly, not try to avoid the uncomfortable. Christians and other religious and ethnic groups in the Middle East and in Africa are encountering this daily, facing death for what they believe or for what they are. Even their children are slaughtered.

But filmmakers trying to save lives of the most defenseless are the bad guys? What an upside-down world.

 And that's all I have to say about that.***

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* Of tangential interest: a list of Amazon.com controversies.
** Click to read a rebuttal of the undercover sting operation.
*** Borrowed, of course, from Forrest Gump. :)
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Updated February 7, 2016: Looks like the indictments are "all hat and no cattle", to borrow an old saying used in this article. That's all right by me.

Story First

Anyone else wearied by myriad causes du jour? By politics and the endless “debates” about it on social media? By the expectation of outrage or an emotional response about [fill in the blank] lest one be labeled by folks who are outraged, offended, etc.?

In the literary realm, one current debate is the “inclusiveness” of novels, and some people think we need to keep score: x number of ethnic characters, x number of certain genders or sexual orientations, and so on. There’s plenty of agenda-driven fiction out there, from a variety of political, religious, and cultural viewpoints. From whence comes this need to turn stories into soapboxes or pulpits?

I have opinions and beliefs, and I’ll talk about them, but not everyone requires, deserves, or is entitled to knowing what they are. In this age of constant exposure, personal freedoms and privacy are in becoming a short supply. So is moderation of speech and behavior.

The Internet, as valuable as it can be, is also a digital three-ring circus. Society/culture at large is often a flamboyant, obnoxious tyranny demanding everyone think alike.

Not gonna happen.

Even in the most repressive governmental regimes, silence or outward compliance have never meant assent. There is always an underground.

I cannot and will not divorce what I believe from what I write. However, my focus is story first

a draft of Dragon's Rook (cKB)

A Reading Wonderland

c2015, KB

Some of my most calming, curiosity-piquing, wonder-filled memories are of libraries and bookstores. Even the smallest or dimmest or least organized are magical places, perhaps made more so by their imperfections and the sense of exploring a cavern of delights.

Years ago, I used to spend my lunch breaks at The Snooper's Barn on Towson Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas, poking through the dusty stackes in the back where history books and old volumes -- some antique -- were shelved higgledy-piggledy, sometimes in precarious Jenga-like towers.

I recently introduced my eldest niece to an excellent independent bookstore in Oklahoma City. When we entered Full Circle Books -- serving readers for more than three decades -- we stepped not through the looking glass, nor through a wardrobe, but through a modern glass and metal door, yet the magic still welcomed us.

c2015, KB

fireplace and sitting area

(c2015, KB)

an old friend, c2015, KB

She fell in love with the rambling space filled with hidden rooms and cozy nooks, and the old-fashioned ladders that travel back and forth on metal tracks in need of oiling.

The children's rooms are well-stocked with old friends and new, including a French copy of Dr. Seuss's One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish -- my niece's first excuse to climb a ladder, but I don't think she really needed a reason. ;)

c2015, KB

the red ladder (c2015, KB)

by the light of Winnie the Pooh (c2015, KB)

French Seuss (c2015, KB)

I love Sandra Boynton books. (c2015, KB)

another old friend (c2015, KB)

familiar author names (c2015, KB)

funky covers (c2015, KB)

Same spaces have the atmosphere of a comfortable corner of someone's home, and every doorway welcomes.

a comfortable study (c2015, KB)

c2015, KB

c2015, KB

a cheery welcome at one of the several doorways (c2015, KB)

I came around the corner and encountered mysteries. There's a metaphor there, I'm sure.

c2015, KB

My niece later found another reason to climb a ladder -- various collections of Edgar Allen Poe, to which she coined a pun: "If one is perusing the works of Edgar Allen, one could be said to be reading Poe-etry."

We are a silly lot.

Jamie reading Poe (c2015, KB)

On the mantel of one of the fireplaces stands this whimsical fellow:

c2015, KB

If you ever visit Oklahoma City, try to carve out time to visit Full Circle Books, especially if you're an independent author. The staff are friendly and professional, and the store supports indie and local authors, and the variety of books is vast.

front desk and beyond (c2015, KB)

What's Your Filter?

Two or more people can look at the same object at the same time, and although they are seeing the same thing, they are not perceiving it the same way.

The filters of experience, prejudice, understanding, philosophy, religion, age, appreciation, comfort or discomfort, good day or bad -- all color the way we see the world.

Below are several versions of a photo of the statue of the grieving Christ outside the Oklahoma City National Memorial, commemorating the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Building. Each image is affected by various filters imposed by photo editing software -- each filter is overlaid the others, until the image underneath is far different from the original.

Christ (c2015, KB)

Christ in black and white (c2015, KB)

Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone (c2015, KB)

Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone, overlaid with a filter to make it appear as if taken circa 1960 (c2015, KB)

Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone, 1960s, and Cinemascope effects (c2015, KB)

See how unexpected interferences or cooperations change what the viewer perceives?

The order matters, as well. If trauma colors our world at a young age, we will view it through a different filter than we might if that same trouble arrived when we were older.

Below, black-and-white and Cinemascope effects were applied in different orders. When the movie effect was applied first, then the monochrome, the image looks crisp. However, when the order was reversed, the image takes on a sepia cast.

Christ in color, as if filmed in Cinemascope (c2015, KB)

Christ in Cinemascope with the color removed (c2015, KB)

Christ in black and white, then "Cinemascoped" (c2015, KB)

Is there something in life you're not seeing clearly?

Are there colors you think you're perceiving, but your friends, colleagues, loved ones -- or perfect strangers on social media --  do not view?

Before we impugn one another's intelligence, reputations, abilities, etcetera, it might be wise to step back and consider the filters through which we -- and they -- view the world.

reposted from Adventures in Fiction, August 7, 2015

A Return

It's been two and a half years since I posted here last, and this remains true:

Adventures in Fiction has moved!

(Click here to visit the new site.)

However, the epic fantasy trilogy has become a duology -- The Lost Sword, comprised of Dragon's Rook (2015) and Dragon's Bane (projected for 2016). Meantime, Thieves' Honor remains unfinished, but only until the duology is complete.

When I first started this blog, I was writing in my spare time while working at a non-profit organization for the youth of my community. I quit after fourteen years, and life has been quite different since. I've moved to two different states since 2011, worked for a publisher as an associate editor, and now am focused on writing full-time.

This would not be possible without the generosity of my brother, who allows me a very comfortable writer's garret over his garage. (Yay for brothers!)

I met many a fellow writer, reader, and editor by blogging here. Perhaps that's one reason I never closed the site. After allowing this page to languish, I may be cross-posting from the other Adventures in Fiction, and from Penworthy Press, a blog shared with other independent writers. Come visit us!

Until next time, here are other links of potential interest:
my website
my author page on Facebook
my Twitter page (though I am rarely there)
the cover designer's blog (she not only designed the cover, she drew the dragon's eye)
Gothic Tones (her jewelry & art store)
Gothic Tones on Facebook