Wednesday, August 27, 2008

BROKEN ANGEL - Day 3, CSFF Blog Tour

Just finished reading the book, and--overall--I like it.

I might understand a little of what Mr. Brouwer must be feeling in the duration of this blog tour. His work is being analyzed, picked apart, praised or pummeled, and there's nothing he can do about it. He's like a parent who must stand afar while his child walks among strangers who may or may not accept such a creature into their midst.

As a writer who has endured my share of critiques that are more critical than helpful, I cringe inside when asked to critique someone else's work, even when it's work I like. Critiques are good--even the ones that come from hostility or envy or dislike--because they can help us sensitive creative types develop the necessary ability to set feelings and defensiveness aside and look at our work with objectivity.

(It's that skill, as well as the ability to inhabit someone else's story, that makes one a good editor.)

On the other hand, it's really cool when someone says something good about our work, the result of all our effort, blood, and ink.

So, here goes. My favorite part of Broken Angel is the scene where (spoiler alert!) Caitlyn's wings break through the skin of her back. In one respect, not much happens--she's trying to escape a baddie named Mason Lee, and the wings thing occurs at a tense point in the chase, and the chase is the story.

But, on the other hand, everything happens.

The ending scene with Jordan and Caitlyn, the damaged father-daughter relationship, that's real. It's fiction, but it's real.

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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

BROKEN ANGEL - Day 2, CSFF Blog Tour

Okay. Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour, Day Two. Many pages later than Day One. How's the story now?

Still pretty good.

The title and the first chapter give away the biggest secret, so I'm not reading to find out what that is.What keeps the suspense heightened is the chase itself, all the people running across the countryside, either trying to catch one girl or trying to protect her from the guys who are trying to catch her.

Got it?

But it's not all fun and games, as some of you who read my previous post might know. There are some issues author Sigmund Brouwer brings up that not just scary futuristic possibilities, but are current to our time.

Rebecca Luella Miller wrote this:

This is a story non-Christians could also enjoy, but I think someone who does not have faith in Christ might come to some erroneous conclusions about Christianity and the Church.

I commented:

Truth / fact may be clear, but one’s interpretation of the facts may be skewed. Doesn’t mean the truth shouldn’t be told or confronted. Sticky subject.

In this case, the truth we are discussing concerns issues inside the Church that are not so pleasant to admit exist: selfishness, greed, lust for power and control, and more.

Some reviewers see the book as a slam on the Catholic church, others as a thin veil for the author's Protestant Evangelical opinions (but any fiction author who claims to not present his views in some fashion in his work is lying).

What I see is a piece of fiction that turns a spotlight on the Church--as she has been, as she is now, as she may become in the future--and this doesn't make everyone happy. It's putting dirty laundry out for the world to see, and it ain't comfortable.

Tomorrow, I intend to dwell less on the church-y issues, and more on the story itself, and the writing, because--hopefully--I will have finished reading the book.

For other views, visit the following blogs:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Mark Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Magma
Margaret
Shannon McNear
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
John W. Otte
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Sean Slagle
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
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Monday, August 25, 2008

BROKEN ANGEL - Day 1, CSFF Blog Tour

A science fiction novel set in the not-too-distant future but with ideas reaching centuries into
the past, Broken Angel by Christian author Sigmund Brouwer is the featured book for the August Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour.

I received my copy later than anticipated (had to order it online), and am still only about a third of the way through the book, but so far, so good.

Brouwer doesn't waste the reader's time. The prologue is intriguing, and though there is some background information in the first chapter, not many words are expended on the setup. The reader joins the main character and her father just before the chase begins, and the story hits the ground running.

The setting is Appalachia, now a separate entity from the rest of the United States and all of the Outside, and is overseen by Bar Elohim (translated, Son of God). However, any notion of this being a desirable state of affairs is quickly dispelled: this theocracy is anything but kind. Nor is it truly a theocracy, not being governed by God and His truth, but by men bent on keeping the populace subdued by twisted fundamentalist teaching, illiteracy, and harsh punishment.

The people are not allowed to read anything, especially the Bible, and even the clerics are only allowed audio versions from which to preach Bar Elohim's truncated selection of truth.

This brings to mind the centuries when only priests had access to the complete scriptures, and could tell the congregations whatever they wished, because the people could not read the truth for themselves. If they tried to do so and disagreed with the accepted teaching, or if they were caught translating the Bible from Latin and distributing it in the common tongue, imprisonment, torture, and death were the results.

As for the twisted fundamentalism, well,  fundamentalism is really the wrong word, since fundamental means foundational, basic, necessary, and so-called fundamentalists who take their religion to extremes have usually added something to it, or removed something from it. But the twistedness can be found in various segments of religious culture, from Christianity to Islam to Eastern cults. No matter how high-minded and noble-sounding a religion's statement of faith, there are adherents who will use those tenets to control other people. (And, if that is the case, this question remains: Are they truly adherents?)

Broken Angel is fast-paced and the writing unencumbered. I look forward to reading the rest of the story, and learning how Brouwer handles these timely and unpleasant issues.

Meanwhile, take a look at other postings about the novel at these blogs:
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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Late Summer Poem

Indomitable

Metal tangs dusty air,
and devils dance—
lightning threads fire in the west.

Green sky looms,
thunder threatens—
gorged black clouds oppress the light.

Fire stabs, scattering
the blood of clouds—
fat warm drops blessing my face.

Trees bow before the wind
but I stand, arms outspread,
welcoming the storm.

c. 2006
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Insane Writing Hours, Guns, and Stuff

It's almost 3:30 a.m. on a work night / work morning, and I'm mucking about with the third episode of Thieves' Honor, still not happy with the results. (See sidebar for the original first few episodes of the series, which has now been picked up by Raygun Revival online magazine.)

The beginning and the end were easy to write, but that darn middle, where all the action is, is proving difficult. I feel like a choreographer might, if he (or she) had to move armed pirates around on a small vessel--in this case, a private yacht--that allows little room for actual fighting.

A word about the fighting: guns. And, since this is science fiction set in the sorta distant future, I get to create the names and functions for the weapons. 

Political Incorrectness Alert! This past weekend, I told Dad I was fortunate to have grown up with guns in the house. I think that startled and scandalized his wife, but it's the truth. I watched Dad and uncles and family friends clean weapons, break them apart, load them, carry them, use them. I witnessed correct handling and near-death stupidity. I listened to adults talk about guns, tell stories about their favorites, debate various makes and ammunition. 

When I was old enough, I target-shot lightweight stuff, but never owned my own gun or carried a weapon when hunting, though I did accompany my dad sometimes into the woods during deer season. He is nearsighted, and I was a good spotter, often able to see the game before he did.

Anyway, back to the story: There was one specific weapon mentioned in Episode 2--lightweight cannon on small law-enforcement vessels--but, in this episode, I'm introducing several more makes and styles. However, along with the logistics of moving pirates around on a yacht, there is the problem of discussing weapons without weighing down the story with unnecessary details. Does it really matter what the name is on the gun?

And yet, for the sake of verisimilitude, I feel compelled to insert the brand names into the action: The brawny bad guy carries a Ginchon-make shotgun; the nerdy engineer prefers a Tattersall's Special in his shoulder holster; a henchman hefts a Pike's pistol a/k/a hand cannon; a trio of "good pirates" like the Cavanaugh Cutlass, "the Mariner's Choice", in either handgun or rifle form. See what I mean? A person could get lost among all those guns.

The end is probably the best part of the episode, and is the first place the title of the series comes into play. Episode 3 won't be published for a couple more months, though, so you'll just have to wait till then to find out what's so special about it. (So there.)
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Monday, August 18, 2008

The Return

Today, I go back to work after two blissful weeks of writing and reading and setting my own schedule, or having no schedule at all.

I could sleep or not sleep, eat or not eat, leave the house or live the hermit lifestyle which seems to fit me so well.

In about an hour, though, that all ends. I have to slog out there into the great wide world and be a grownup again, and I ain't happy about it.
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Friday, August 15, 2008

Maybe I Just Need to Grow Up

I tried. I really tried.

The writing is decent, and the world of the story is credible and well-presented, but I. Just. Can't. Go. On.

This morning, I pulled the bookmark out of Across the Face of the World by Russell Kirkpatrick. When that happens to a book I've not finished reading, the bookmark rarely goes back in.

I found the book at a bookstore in the mall where I was running an errand for work: picking up a ginormous cookie cake at the Chocolate Chip Cookie Company on behalf of a volunteer who worked his butt off for us all summer.

I went in to the store knowing what I was looking for--either The Born Queen by Greg Keyes or The High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain--but found neither. Instead, the cool cover art and the thickness of the paperback drew my attention to Across the Face of the World. After all, if I'm going to spend the money, I want a decent amount of story for the buck. And I was already in the mind for fantasy/adventure.


Just look at it. Who wouldn't want to read a story with a scene like that?

It had an interesting and Tolkienesque premise, there were maps (I like maps), and a cool glossary of ancient terms and names listed in the back of the book, so I lifted it from its place, sandwiched between blander--and smaller--volumes, and felt like I was rescuing a deserving story from its prison of a dark bottom shelf.

First problem? A head-hopping third-person omniscient POV: the so-called God's-eye point of view. Readers of this blog know my opinions on POV, so I shall not reiterate them here. Some writers can make me overlook the POV; some cannot.

Second problem? Much as I wanted to like this story--I gave it 200 pages--it bored me. And there are nearly 500 more pages still unread.

If someone else has read this book, or the others in the series, please let me know if I should suck it up and persevere, or just let it go. Kirkpatrick put his time, sweat, and inkpen into this project, not to mention his cartographic skills. I'd like to know they yielded something more interesting than a detailed description of a journey across a fictional landscape.
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