by Jason Joyner | Mar 23, 2011 | Blog, books, getting in the last word, Mike Duran, speculative fiction
I told you it would be interesting!
The CSFF Tour is wrapping up its feature of The Resurrection, the debut novel by Mike Duran. There’s a lot of interesting opinions out there. The book was well-received by most, but there were a few who thought it didn’t meet its potential. Becky Miller keeps track of all the posts, and Mike has highlighted a few posts that stood out to him. You can find my interview with Mike under part 1 and part 2. Thanks Mike for taking your time with me and my questions! Although…I never did see an answer to question 8…
I reviewed the book a couple weeks ago, getting ahead of myself. Still, I wanted to comment on some things that came out from the tour.
1. It’s not horror.
For those who can’t handle Stephen King and Dean Koontz, don’t fear. The Resurrection is a very suspenseful novel. You may be on the edge of your seat. But it doesn’t cross over into the horror category IMO. But be warned, Mike’s next book may be treading into that territory, from what I’ve heard.
2. There’s a lot to ponder.
I think a book that stands out not only entertains, but makes the reader think. Several people on the tour have noted this about The Resurrection. The part that has amazed me is the variety of themes and ideas people have gotten from it. I saw the themes of faith, modern philosophy vs. the gospel, and the real continuing battle between good and evil in the book. A lot of other thoughts were pulled from it as well. For this Mike, you should be proud.
3. People are interested by something other than a “standard” literary evangelical Christianity.
In CBA there seems to be a general feel for a church. A church in these books may be modern or traditional, but seem pretty middle of the road. Actually, Canyon Springs Community Church in this book is as well. The fact that there’s a resurrection, a miracle, sets the book apart. There is an interesting discussion at Becky’s blog regarding the gifts of the Spirit that is encouraging to me. It would be nice to see a little more of the wide variety of Christian expression in CBA novels. If the church is made of “every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” (Rev 7:9), then we should see God’s vast character highlighted in Christian fiction, right?
4. Spiritual warfare = Frank Peretti.
I didn’t think The Resurrection aped Mr. Peretti too much, but a lot of people made that connection. His Darkness novels are still standouts in my mind for Christian fiction, but just because a novel touches on spiritual warfare themes, it doesn’t make it a Peretti knock-off. Not knocking those who see that. Not knocking at all really…moving along….
5. Readership for CBA novels is evolving.
I thought there would be a little MORE controversy over The Resurrection, since it features miracles, ghosts with catchy monikers, and the spiritual warfare angle. Mike likes to provoke thought at his blog Decompose, so I teased about controversy with this tour. However, the participants didn’t fuss over this book at all. There were honest critiques and discussion over whether plot points (like the ghost) worked. But no one quit the CSFF over a lack of doctrinal purity (this has happened before, I’m not kidding). We have a lot of new folks lately and I really love CSFF Tour time because of the thoughtful exploration of the books we feature.
6. You need to buy The Resurrection.
Enough of sitting in front of your computer and reading this! Go here, order the book, and you’ll have a great way to pass the time when (if, in Idaho) spring arrives. Thanks for stopping by!
—
by Jason Joyner | Mar 23, 2011 | Blog, books, getting in the last word, Mike Duran, speculative fiction
I told you it would be interesting!
The CSFF Tour is wrapping up its feature of The Resurrection, the debut novel by Mike Duran. There’s a lot of interesting opinions out there. The book was well-received by most, but there were a few who thought it didn’t meet its potential. Becky Miller keeps track of all the posts, and Mike has highlighted a few posts that stood out to him. You can find my interview with Mike under part 1 and part 2. Thanks Mike for taking your time with me and my questions! Although…I never did see an answer to question 8…
I reviewed the book a couple weeks ago, getting ahead of myself. Still, I wanted to comment on some things that came out from the tour.
1. It’s not horror.
For those who can’t handle Stephen King and Dean Koontz, don’t fear. The Resurrection is a very suspenseful novel. You may be on the edge of your seat. But it doesn’t cross over into the horror category IMO. But be warned, Mike’s next book may be treading into that territory, from what I’ve heard.
2. There’s a lot to ponder.
I think a book that stands out not only entertains, but makes the reader think. Several people on the tour have noted this about The Resurrection. The part that has amazed me is the variety of themes and ideas people have gotten from it. I saw the themes of faith, modern philosophy vs. the gospel, and the real continuing battle between good and evil in the book. A lot of other thoughts were pulled from it as well. For this Mike, you should be proud.
3. People are interested by something other than a “standard” literary evangelical Christianity.
In CBA there seems to be a general feel for a church. A church in these books may be modern or traditional, but seem pretty middle of the road. Actually, Canyon Springs Community Church in this book is as well. The fact that there’s a resurrection, a miracle, sets the book apart. There is an interesting discussion at Becky’s blog regarding the gifts of the Spirit that is encouraging to me. It would be nice to see a little more of the wide variety of Christian expression in CBA novels. If the church is made of “every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” (Rev 7:9), then we should see God’s vast character highlighted in Christian fiction, right?
4. Spiritual warfare = Frank Peretti.
I didn’t think The Resurrection aped Mr. Peretti too much, but a lot of people made that connection. His Darkness novels are still standouts in my mind for Christian fiction, but just because a novel touches on spiritual warfare themes, it doesn’t make it a Peretti knock-off. Not knocking those who see that. Not knocking at all really…moving along….
5. Readership for CBA novels is evolving.
I thought there would be a little MORE controversy over The Resurrection, since it features miracles, ghosts with catchy monikers, and the spiritual warfare angle. Mike likes to provoke thought at his blog Decompose, so I teased about controversy with this tour. However, the participants didn’t fuss over this book at all. There were honest critiques and discussion over whether plot points (like the ghost) worked. But no one quit the CSFF over a lack of doctrinal purity (this has happened before, I’m not kidding). We have a lot of new folks lately and I really love CSFF Tour time because of the thoughtful exploration of the books we feature.
6. You need to buy The Resurrection.
Enough of sitting in front of your computer and reading this! Go here, order the book, and you’ll have a great way to pass the time when (if, in Idaho) spring arrives. Thanks for stopping by!
—
by Jason Joyner | Feb 21, 2011 | angry college professors, Blog, books, CSFF, speculative fiction
|
| I hate God, and you too! |
I had one of *those* professors.
You know, one of those college PhD’s who enjoyed destroying the faith of unsuspecting freshmen coming to college with their parents’ religion shackled to them like mental bungie cords, holding them back from truly learning in the world of higher learning. (See, you can tell by that sentence that I’m a college graduate!)
The only problem for Dr. Bob Anderson is that I didn’t take him as a freshmen.
I would have done fine if I had. I’d done enough study into my own faith to shore it up. But I took him as a senior majoring in biology, taking the long put-off Botany 101 that I was hoping to avoid by getting into the physician assistant program before I had to take some rabbit classes (you know, botany, ecology – all the plant stuff). I’d also spent 9 months in YWAM’s School of Biblical Studies, so I wasn’t worried when I showed up to the first day of class and Dr. Anderson was at the podium (he wasn’t supposed to teach it, but they must have needed a switch, since he was an entomologist).
He required us to buy his own little screed in addition to our botany textbook. He spent six weeks discussing his philosophy of science and learning, while spending less than one full lecture on photosynthesis (which seems to be a fairly important biochemical reaction, but whatever dude). It was quite frustrating, but it didn’t shake me up at all. It was my main experience with this common college happenstance.
This leads us to this month’s feature book, The God Hater by Bill Myers. The book features such an atheistic professor, Nicholas Mackenzie, who delights in tearing down religion and showing it for the farce he believes it to be. He’s a cranky curmudgeon who is only really close to sweet Annie Brooks, another professor who happens to be a Christian, and her young son Rusty.
He is estranged from his computer genius brother Travis, but he gets a cryptic message from him asking for help. It seems that Travis has managed to create a true artificial intelligence, with a computer world filled with about 1000 denizens who keep wiping each other out in simulation after simulation. Travis needs his philosphical brother to create a worldview that will allow the simulation to proceed with a foundation that will keep them from obliterating each other. The key part is that their free will must be kept intact, or it will be no better than the programmers telling their creation what to do.
While the Mackenzies wrestle with their philosophical dilemna, it seems Travis has had to do some questionable hacking to rustle up enough computer power to keep this “super-secret” project going – and some people are interested enough in the outcome of this experiment that they are willing to use Annie and Rusty as leverage against Nicholas.
As they dodge the guys in black suits, Nicholas is failing in his attempts to influence the program’s inhabitants to follow a simple, materialistically-devised philosophy. Maybe if he has a digital avatar go and explain the rules of life to the simulations, he will have better success…
And with that, I leave you for my review of the book tomorrow. But check out my tourmates below for more discussion and other antics.
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
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Nicole White
Dave Wilson
—
by Jason Joyner | Feb 21, 2011 | angry college professors, Blog, books, CSFF, speculative fiction
|
| I hate God, and you too! |
I had one of *those* professors.
You know, one of those college PhD’s who enjoyed destroying the faith of unsuspecting freshmen coming to college with their parents’ religion shackled to them like mental bungie cords, holding them back from truly learning in the world of higher learning. (See, you can tell by that sentence that I’m a college graduate!)
The only problem for Dr. Bob Anderson is that I didn’t take him as a freshmen.
I would have done fine if I had. I’d done enough study into my own faith to shore it up. But I took him as a senior majoring in biology, taking the long put-off Botany 101 that I was hoping to avoid by getting into the physician assistant program before I had to take some rabbit classes (you know, botany, ecology – all the plant stuff). I’d also spent 9 months in YWAM’s School of Biblical Studies, so I wasn’t worried when I showed up to the first day of class and Dr. Anderson was at the podium (he wasn’t supposed to teach it, but they must have needed a switch, since he was an entomologist).
He required us to buy his own little screed in addition to our botany textbook. He spent six weeks discussing his philosophy of science and learning, while spending less than one full lecture on photosynthesis (which seems to be a fairly important biochemical reaction, but whatever dude). It was quite frustrating, but it didn’t shake me up at all. It was my main experience with this common college happenstance.
This leads us to this month’s feature book, The God Hater by Bill Myers. The book features such an atheistic professor, Nicholas Mackenzie, who delights in tearing down religion and showing it for the farce he believes it to be. He’s a cranky curmudgeon who is only really close to sweet Annie Brooks, another professor who happens to be a Christian, and her young son Rusty.
He is estranged from his computer genius brother Travis, but he gets a cryptic message from him asking for help. It seems that Travis has managed to create a true artificial intelligence, with a computer world filled with about 1000 denizens who keep wiping each other out in simulation after simulation. Travis needs his philosphical brother to create a worldview that will allow the simulation to proceed with a foundation that will keep them from obliterating each other. The key part is that their free will must be kept intact, or it will be no better than the programmers telling their creation what to do.
While the Mackenzies wrestle with their philosophical dilemna, it seems Travis has had to do some questionable hacking to rustle up enough computer power to keep this “super-secret” project going – and some people are interested enough in the outcome of this experiment that they are willing to use Annie and Rusty as leverage against Nicholas.
As they dodge the guys in black suits, Nicholas is failing in his attempts to influence the program’s inhabitants to follow a simple, materialistically-devised philosophy. Maybe if he has a digital avatar go and explain the rules of life to the simulations, he will have better success…
And with that, I leave you for my review of the book tomorrow. But check out my tourmates below for more discussion and other antics.
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
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Nicole White
Dave Wilson
—
by Jason Joyner | Jan 5, 2011 | Blog, books, CSFF, fantasy, reviews
|
| “I always feel like…somebody’s watching me!” |
Have you been following the discussion in this month’s CSFF Tour featuring
The Wolf of Tebron? If not, you’re missing out on fairy tales, allegories, and how these can fit into speculative fiction. As always, Becky Miller keeps track of
all the rabble and their varied posts – check it out!
If you’re wondering what
The Wolf of Tebron is about, my synopsis is on
day 1 of our tour. Yesterday I talked about the tricky place
Tebron is in marketing-wise with it being a “fairy tale allegory.” I promised a review today.
Let me start off by saying that in learning more about Ms. Lakin, I can see that she is a well-read individual who has attempted an ambitious project in her Gates of Heaven series, which Tebron kicks off. She has a discussion in the back of the book that describes her desire to meld a fairy tale structure with allegorical images of God’s relationship while weaving in apologetics, philosophy, and poetry.
Sounds impressive, and is certainly a lofty goal to shoot for in book.
The book starts with a prologue and then takes the protaganist, Joran, through different journeys as he seeks the Moon, the Sun, the South Wind, and the Western Sea in progression. Lakin enjoys a descriptive style, and it usually serves the story well, creating a vivid picture of the different locales – once Joran gets there. Sometimes though, the journey gets repetitious, and the description struggles at the lack of variety. Other times the action is nebulous (see p182-184), so the description is confusing. I had to skim some sections as there were gaps without a lot going on, it seemed.
There aren’t a lot of characters in the book. Joran is an everyman type, and he didn’t connect with me very well. A lot of his struggle in the book is internal as much as external. I know that in life we most often deal with internal strife, and it is hard to make that exciting. The other major character is Ruyah the wolf, who becomes Joran’s companion throughout the journey. He is a noble creature with a unique voice, and he is the best part of the book. He is a wise mentor to Joran, and even though it would be easy to compare him with Aslan the lion, Ruyah stands apart from his Narnian counterpart. As others have noted, sometimes Ruyah’s wisdom seems a little outside of Biblical standing, but he was enjoyable overall.
 |
| Do you hear laughing? |
The major destinations of the Moon, Sun, etc. are personified, and this technique is used well. The Sun’s mother, Sola, was very interested in knowledge, and she offered up some things like listening to specific symphonies and mentioned “rocket science,” which threw me out of the fictive world of Tebron each time.
The conclusion of the book ties together various threads from the book with varying success. I felt the most emotional connection to Joran and his wife Charris at this time, but other things came across too contrived.
Overall, I obviously had a hard time with The Wolf of Tebron. I admire what she was trying to do – I just think there was so much attempted it didn’t come together well. I don’t like being critical, because I realize the hard, hard work it is to pour yourself into writing a book, but as Fred Warren says in his day 3 post, it doesn’t work for everyone. Others on the tour really enjoyed the plot, spiritual allegory, and characters. I felt distant to it the whole time. Do check out other people on the tour to get a balanced view, and I wish Ms. Lakin much success in the future.
I think the CSFF is playing catch up a little, and there will be another tour later in January. Hope to see you then!
—
by Jason Joyner | Jan 5, 2011 | Blog, books, CSFF, fantasy, reviews
|
| “I always feel like…somebody’s watching me!” |
Have you been following the discussion in this month’s CSFF Tour featuring
The Wolf of Tebron? If not, you’re missing out on fairy tales, allegories, and how these can fit into speculative fiction. As always, Becky Miller keeps track of
all the rabble and their varied posts – check it out!
If you’re wondering what
The Wolf of Tebron is about, my synopsis is on
day 1 of our tour. Yesterday I talked about the tricky place
Tebron is in marketing-wise with it being a “fairy tale allegory.” I promised a review today.
Let me start off by saying that in learning more about Ms. Lakin, I can see that she is a well-read individual who has attempted an ambitious project in her Gates of Heaven series, which Tebron kicks off. She has a discussion in the back of the book that describes her desire to meld a fairy tale structure with allegorical images of God’s relationship while weaving in apologetics, philosophy, and poetry.
Sounds impressive, and is certainly a lofty goal to shoot for in book.
The book starts with a prologue and then takes the protaganist, Joran, through different journeys as he seeks the Moon, the Sun, the South Wind, and the Western Sea in progression. Lakin enjoys a descriptive style, and it usually serves the story well, creating a vivid picture of the different locales – once Joran gets there. Sometimes though, the journey gets repetitious, and the description struggles at the lack of variety. Other times the action is nebulous (see p182-184), so the description is confusing. I had to skim some sections as there were gaps without a lot going on, it seemed.
There aren’t a lot of characters in the book. Joran is an everyman type, and he didn’t connect with me very well. A lot of his struggle in the book is internal as much as external. I know that in life we most often deal with internal strife, and it is hard to make that exciting. The other major character is Ruyah the wolf, who becomes Joran’s companion throughout the journey. He is a noble creature with a unique voice, and he is the best part of the book. He is a wise mentor to Joran, and even though it would be easy to compare him with Aslan the lion, Ruyah stands apart from his Narnian counterpart. As others have noted, sometimes Ruyah’s wisdom seems a little outside of Biblical standing, but he was enjoyable overall.
|
| Do you hear laughing? |
The major destinations of the Moon, Sun, etc. are personified, and this technique is used well. The Sun’s mother, Sola, was very interested in knowledge, and she offered up some things like listening to specific symphonies and mentioned “rocket science,” which threw me out of the fictive world of Tebron each time.
The conclusion of the book ties together various threads from the book with varying success. I felt the most emotional connection to Joran and his wife Charris at this time, but other things came across too contrived.
Overall, I obviously had a hard time with The Wolf of Tebron. I admire what she was trying to do – I just think there was so much attempted it didn’t come together well. I don’t like being critical, because I realize the hard, hard work it is to pour yourself into writing a book, but as Fred Warren says in his day 3 post, it doesn’t work for everyone. Others on the tour really enjoyed the plot, spiritual allegory, and characters. I felt distant to it the whole time. Do check out other people on the tour to get a balanced view, and I wish Ms. Lakin much success in the future.
I think the CSFF is playing catch up a little, and there will be another tour later in January. Hope to see you then!
—
