new blog being tested

Because of continuing problems with access to this blog I am trying out something new on wordpress:


http://onesimusfiles.wordpress.com/

I'm not sure how it will go. I'm still trying to work it all out.

Lucy Ward, For the Dead Men.

Here is a change from story telling in books. One of my favourite forms of music is traditional folk, another story telling medium. One of my most recent discoveries in that area of music is Lucy Ward from Derby - a few miles from where I spent my childhood. She has a gorgeous voice and uses it to express a variety of moods in song.

This is her first single.

Winter, Keven Newsome

It was only a couple of weeks ago but I've already forgotten how I heard about this book, but something clearly appealed to me because I immediately ordered it.

I wasn't quite so enthusiastic when the book arrived. One of the things dampening my enthusiam was the opening statement in one of the mini-reviews on the first pages: "Christian Goth - way cool concept".

Personally I see very little that is "cool" about that concept. Conforming to the world's obessions, whether "Goth" or any other cultural fad ought to be the antithesis of the Christian life.

And the beginning of the first chapter did nothing to win my confidence, having the feel and imagery of horror fiction written by an enthusiastic but clumsy teenager.

Harsh things to say about a book? Certainly. I'm not sure I've ever written such strongly negative things on this blog...

But then - wait for it... things steadily improve.

Before long I'm caught up in the story, I identify with the main character Winter, the "Christian Goth" mentioned in the previously mentioned review. Early in the story the idea of "judging a book by its cover" receives a little attention, challenging the viewpoint I expressed above regarding the "Christian Goth" issue and I have to concede the right of Winter to her image.
We are told she has only been a Christian for a very short time. We are also introduced to the reasons why she adopted the Goth image in the first place. So, looking past the "way cool" comment I mentioned earlier I have no problem with the character as she has been written and my issue so far is more with  the one who made the "way cool" comment rather than the book's author or his characters. Even the first chapter seemed less clumsy on reflection after I was able to place it in the wider context of the unfolding story.

One of the difficulties I find with Christian fiction is the underlying theology. With some books it is never an issue. They merely portray realistic people in familiar situations trying to deal with everyday life (with a few extreme situations thrown in) in the best way they can according to their level of faith in God. Moving from a place of doubt to a positon of greater trust is a common theme.
Winter is significantly different. It takes us beyond our familar world into territory more associated with the present day genre of "paranormal romance". Winter is struggling with dreams, visions and a recurrring feeling of deja vu. We find she is experiencing the beginnings of a gift of prophecy in which she is made aware of things that are either happening elsewhere or things that are about to happen.

And that is where my biggest concern with the book rises - with the way prophecy is portrayed in practice and purpose. To me the portrayal has more in common with clairvoyance and psychic practices than a biblically sound portayal of a prophetic gift. A clear example is Winter's need to have contact with an object belonging to another character to gain "prophetic" information about that character. That is an occult practice known as psychometry and not a practice of biblical prophets.

Considering the New Testament warns of an increase in false prophets and false prophecy , a non-biblical portrayal of prophecy in a potentially popular work of Christian fiction is worrying. As a work of fiction Winter is entertaining. It captures and keeps the reader’s interest. In my opinion it is a genuine page turner. But the nature of the theological foundation it is built upon makes that readability dangerous if readers accept the books portrayal of biblical prophecy and prophets as legitimate instead of being informed about these things through scripture itself.

Anne McCaffrey.

I recently heard that Anne McAffrey died on 21st November 2011. She was 85 and suffered a stroke at her home in Dublin. That probably explains why an earlier post about her received so many page-views around that time.

I think I've only read one of her books, Dragonflight the first in her Dragon riders of Pern series. I read it in the 80s and loved it. I later read it as part of my university studies and, having forgotten the story, enjoyed it again. I do have two or three of her other books but never got around to reading them. They came later in the series and I didn't want to read them before I'd read the earlier books.

Several years ago my wife bought me a limited edition reprint of the book, autographed, numbered and enclosed in a slip case, it was a very unexpected find in a local bookshop. Although I read so little of her work there was something I found appealing about McCaffrey and I always intended to read more of her stories. I wonder if I'll get around to doing it or whether my tastes in books has changed too much to return to Pern.

Someone to Blame, C.S. Lakin

I’m hoping to find more quality Christian fiction in 2012 and I’ve had a good start with C.S Lakin’s Someone to Blame being the first book completed for the year. But is that book a sign of things to come? Or has the bar been set too high for the coming months?

Unlike so many Christian books I’ve read recently, Someone to Blame has credible characters experiencing believable situations and facing very real faith challenges. It also avoids the clumsy preachiness that I’ve found in so many other novels of this type, but without compromising or holding back.

It might seem a strange comparison, but the structure of the novel reminded me of Stephen King's work, with a variety of characters in a small town facing a perceived threat from an outside source. However Lakin keeps her story firmly grounded in the familiar, with a positive recoginition of God's reality.

One of the most encouraging things about this book for me is the way it shows that quality Christian fiction is achievable, so maybe I'm not chasing a vain dream with my own writing ambitions.

2011: review of my completed reading

I’ve fallen behind the number of books I read last year. With only a couple of weeks of 2011 I doubt I’ll match the 63 from 2010.
I intended to mention my favourite books of the year, but looking back at my reading list I find so few that REALLY excited me. So instead of a top 10 or a top three books of the year that I intended to write – all I can do is mention the books that kept my interest and made me reluctant to put them down.


• The year started with Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall. Despite its length I was caught up in the story and enjoyed it enough to be interested in the promised sequel.
• I always find Mike Gayle very easy to read. With all of his books I’ve been reluctant to put them aside when I’ve started them. I’ve now read them all.
• Jasper Ffforde, one of last year’s favourites had only one book on this year’s list. I really love his writing but I think I needed a break. I have several unread Fforde’s on my shelves waiting for next year.
• Richard Harland’s Liberator also needs a mention. A great sequel to Worldshaker from last year’s reading list. I really wanted to revisit the world he created in the first book and I would certainly be interested in a third instalment should he write one.
• Neverwhere was the first Neil Gaiman book I’ve read. Very inventive but at times verged on being overly grotesque for my liking. Fantasy with some very dark aspects.
• The Power of Six was another sequel, related to a book from last year’s list. This one is the follow up to I Am Number Four, while it kept me reading I found it less rounded than the first book. It was clearly part of a series rather than a stand-alone book, like pulling a collection of chapters out of a longer piece of fiction.
• Duma Key was the first Stephen King book I’ve read in over ten years. I enjoyed most of it. I’ve written about some of my concerns about the book in an earlier post. I recently came in for some questioning on a Christian forum – why would I want to read such things? I can understand the concern. King’s reputation perhaps gets in the way. People have preconceptions about the type of thing her writes, and I may write something about that issue at another time.
• Divergent by Veronica Roth, another first episode of a series. I am very interested in the next instalment due sometime next year.

All of the above are works of fiction. What about non-fiction?

• David Hick’s Guantanamo: My Journey will only reinforce whatever people already believe about his imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay and what led him there. While the book answers a lot of questions, at times he seems to avoid telling us what really happened. I feel he was not as innocent as he tries to make out – but neither was he as guilty as the political powers insisted. I think he was an idealist but foolish young man in the wrong place at the wrong time who continually fell into the hands of the wrong people.
• Unzipped, Suzi Quatro and Haunted Heart by Lisa Rogak. I’d like to write a separate article incorporating these two books. One clearly about Suzi Quatro, the other about Stephen King – famous people I’ve had some kind of attachment to in the past. Very interesting to find out what went on behind the scenes.
• Several food books – the stand out perhaps being In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. His views of food are essential reading for anyone who has real concern about what they are eating.

After this listing and commentary of “readable” and “interesting” books – there is one book from 2011 that I have to single out as my book of the year. If I can only recommend one book out of all of those I’ve read this year it would be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
Why the recommendation? I suggest you read it for yourself and find out.

I loved it.

The Gratuitous Excess of Stephen King.

I've probably read more about Stephen King and more about his books than I've read of his fiction. And I’ve probably read more biographies about Stephen King than I’ve read about any other individual.

He is one of the most successful authors ever, so it’s not surprising that I was interested in the man and his work. I saw I could learn something, or at least be inspired by his example.

My interest in King started around the same time I started a creative writing course at University in the early 1990s. One of my first stories written for the course had horror elements and immediately someone made a Stephen King comparison. I don’t know whether that comment influenced me in any way, but it seemed that most of my story writing from that point took on elements of “dark fantasy”.

For one Uni assignment I wrote a review of one of King’s books – Cycle of the Werewolf, a short novel illustrated by comic book artist Bernie Wrightson. The one thing I recall about my review is that I saw Wrighton’s artwork as a metaphor for King’s work in general. Wrightson had provided both coloured, graphically bloody illustrations and more subtle black and white sketches. I found the subtler drawings much more effective. Likewise with King’s writing, there was a mixture of “gross-out” and more nuanced incidents –again I found the subtler approach more interesting, more imaginative and overall much more effective in capturing my attention.

It had been over decade since I last read anything by King, but reading Lisa Rogak's Haunted Heart, a recent biography, made me curious enough to read another of King’s books. I chose Duma Key because its main character takes up art near the beginning of the book – as I have done this year.
I’m now approaching page 90 out of almost 700 pages. It is still a long way to go, but enough to give me an idea of what I like and don’t like about King’s writing. At this stage there is one major issue that in my opinion mars what he writes, and that is his occasional habit of resorting to extreme crudity. In the context of Duma Key it has seemed entirely gratuitous.

I admit that my opinion on this is strongly influenced by my Christian commitment, but that is not the whole of the matter. I understand that the use of expletives can effectively create realistic dialogue and give colour to character. Used in the appropriate context it doesn’t bother me so much.

In Duma Key so far, there have been two instances of excessive crudity. Both were unnecessary and neither added to the story, or the characters. Were they used to serve the story (in my opinion no) or to serve the reputation of King’s ability to shock?

I get the sense that it is the author himself rather than his characters that are the focus of the extreme use of language. As if King is trying to show that he’s still able to shock his reader rather than adding a realistic edge.