Brandywine Books
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Sometimes, I Love Bad Writing
[by way of World Magazine's blog] Dan McKay of Fargo, ND, has won the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest with this sentence: "As he stared at her ample bosom, he daydreamed of the dual Stromberg carburettors in his vintage Triumph Spitfire, highly functional yet pleasingly formed, perched prominently on top of the intake manifold, aching for experienced hands, the small knurled caps of the oil dampeners begging to be inspected and adjusted as described in chapter seven of the shop manual."
Okay, that's a little embarrassing to quote, but the contest judge explains why this one beat the competition in a report from CNN. "We want writers with a little talent, but no taste," San Jose State English Professor Scott Rice said. "And Dan's entry was just ludicrous."
But you say I should get enough bad writing by reading my own blog? Ha! You're too funny. This one from Mitsy Rae of Danbury, NE was the contest runner-up: "When Detective Riggs was called to investigate the theft of a trainload of Native American fish broth concentrate bound for market, he solved the case almost immediately, being that the trail of clues led straight to the trainmaster, who had both the locomotive and the Hopi tuna tea."
And one more from the long list on the awards page. This comes from Ken Aclin of Shreveport, LA: "India, which hangs like a wet washcloth from the towel rack of Asia, presented itself to Tex as he landed in Delhi (or was it Bombay?), as if it mattered because Tex finally had an idea to make his mark and fortune and that idea was a chain of steak houses to serve the millions and he wondered, as he deplaned down the steep, shiny, steel steps, why no one had thought of it before."
Okay, that's a little embarrassing to quote, but the contest judge explains why this one beat the competition in a report from CNN. "We want writers with a little talent, but no taste," San Jose State English Professor Scott Rice said. "And Dan's entry was just ludicrous."
But you say I should get enough bad writing by reading my own blog? Ha! You're too funny. This one from Mitsy Rae of Danbury, NE was the contest runner-up: "When Detective Riggs was called to investigate the theft of a trainload of Native American fish broth concentrate bound for market, he solved the case almost immediately, being that the trail of clues led straight to the trainmaster, who had both the locomotive and the Hopi tuna tea."
And one more from the long list on the awards page. This comes from Ken Aclin of Shreveport, LA: "India, which hangs like a wet washcloth from the towel rack of Asia, presented itself to Tex as he landed in Delhi (or was it Bombay?), as if it mattered because Tex finally had an idea to make his mark and fortune and that idea was a chain of steak houses to serve the millions and he wondered, as he deplaned down the steep, shiny, steel steps, why no one had thought of it before."
Will Write 4 Food
Mr. Holtsberry has a good post on the economics of book buying in response to posts on Booksquare. I commented there, but besides that all I have to say is phooey on taxing book sales and the bureaucracy managing those taxes in an effort to reward authors for used books. Lars, what do you think?
And while I'm linking to Collected Misc., let me point out a review which I had intended to point out before. The Traveler has gotten some good publicity and discussion of that publicity over the past several weeks. Mr. Holtsberry reviews it, writing, "I didn't find the writing particularly bad but neither did I find it particularly good either. The point was the plot not the language itself. . . . If you like socio-political action adventure, with a does of science fiction perhaps, then you will like The Traveler." - phil
And while I'm linking to Collected Misc., let me point out a review which I had intended to point out before. The Traveler has gotten some good publicity and discussion of that publicity over the past several weeks. Mr. Holtsberry reviews it, writing, "I didn't find the writing particularly bad but neither did I find it particularly good either. The point was the plot not the language itself. . . . If you like socio-political action adventure, with a does of science fiction perhaps, then you will like The Traveler." - phil
Friday, July 29, 2005
What Ever Happened to Miller's?
Here's a non-literary question for you. What department store or franchise company would you care the least to see go the way of the world? In my area, Kroger's grocery stores couldn't compete (or had some kind of trouble), so they pulled out. I didn't care. Later, Red Food was bought by Bi-Lo, and I cared because Red Food was my store. Bi-Lo had a bad name and high prices. I've warmed to them since. Miller's is gone. Service Merchandise closed. Sears bought K-mart recently.
What store would not care to see go? What store would it surprise you to close its doors?
-phil
What store would not care to see go? What store would it surprise you to close its doors?
-phil
The Printed Word
I had a brilliant post/review for last night, but the my area had a black out. I don't think of my area generally as Rural America, but with the trouble we have with power and phone service, Rural America is probably an appropriate label. With Lars gone, I don't want you to think BwB will be silent until Monday, so here's something to start your day.
Walter Isaacson of The Aspen Insititute says, "The printed word will be the most important technology for sharing ideas during the next century, just as it has been for the five centuries since Gutenberg. If for the past 500 years we had been getting information electronically and someone found a way to put it on paper and deliver it to our homes, we would marvel at the new print technology and proclaim that it would soon replace the Internet and cable."
I agree that written words will carry us generation after generation into the starry future, but if Isaacson is saying this about words printed in ink on paper vs. words displayed, protected, or digitized in some way, then I disagree. I doubt we will become an oral culture where no one cares to write things down, primarily because when things are written they are distributed accurately and quickly; but I won't be surprised if many businesses in my lifetime stop printing, say, paper newspapers. In the future, a broadsheet may be something quaint found in antique stores down the aisle from hand-crank coffee grinders.
Walter Isaacson of The Aspen Insititute says, "The printed word will be the most important technology for sharing ideas during the next century, just as it has been for the five centuries since Gutenberg. If for the past 500 years we had been getting information electronically and someone found a way to put it on paper and deliver it to our homes, we would marvel at the new print technology and proclaim that it would soon replace the Internet and cable."
I agree that written words will carry us generation after generation into the starry future, but if Isaacson is saying this about words printed in ink on paper vs. words displayed, protected, or digitized in some way, then I disagree. I doubt we will become an oral culture where no one cares to write things down, primarily because when things are written they are distributed accurately and quickly; but I won't be surprised if many businesses in my lifetime stop printing, say, paper newspapers. In the future, a broadsheet may be something quaint found in antique stores down the aisle from hand-crank coffee grinders.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
The Hot Dot Look or Where's Pac-Man When You Need Him?
I like some Retro design, but some things need to be left for the history books. Click here to see "the big, bold polka dots" of the Hot Dot decor collection.
Monday, July 25, 2005
The Subtitle: How One Line Changed the World
[by way of ArtsJournal.com] A non-fiction book will draw more attention and sales if its subtitle uses a version of the phrase "changed the world," according to Mark Feeney of the Boston Globe.
The subject may have saved, seduced, or rocked the world, but somehow, whatever it did was big. What were some of these things? Hold on to your seat:
A few minutes later: It seems the Globe is well behind the curve with this article. I just uncovered a Guardian article on the same subject from April 6. In it, Richard Adams goes off on this industry excess.
(Maybe that should be "impacted the world." I love the word impacted. It could be positive or negative while remaining chillingly violent.)
One book is widely credited with popularizing it, Mark Kurlansky's 1997 bestseller, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World. The success of that book caught the attention of authors and publishers.Maybe the success of this phrase comes from that secret-to-success desire we all have or a strong belief in our individual natures and the uniqueness of the stuff around us. If we could just find that one thing that will change our lives or even the world. Cue the Superman theme.
The subject may have saved, seduced, or rocked the world, but somehow, whatever it did was big. What were some of these things? Hold on to your seat:
- Gunpowder. Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive That Changed the World
- In Search of Zarathustra: The First Prophet and the Ideas That Changed the World
- The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention That Changed the World
- Glass: From the First Mirror to Fiber Optics, the Story of the Substance That Changed the World
- The Twist: The Story of the Song and Dance That Changed the World
- Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World
A few minutes later: It seems the Globe is well behind the curve with this article. I just uncovered a Guardian article on the same subject from April 6. In it, Richard Adams goes off on this industry excess.
In 2006 the august Princeton University Press promises to publish The Box: how the shipping container changed the world. Oh dear. Some of these titles are plainly overblown. Sugar: the grass that changed the world? The Beatles' 1964 Tour That Changed the World? Nasdaq: a history of the market that changed the world? Oh, come on.- phil, one of the two brilliant bloggers who changed the world.
The silliest claim of the lot, though, is a close-run thing between The Spreadsheet at 25: 25 amazing Excel examples that evolved from the invention that changed the world; or A Look Back at Radio in Canada and How it Changed the World.
(Maybe that should be "impacted the world." I love the word impacted. It could be positive or negative while remaining chillingly violent.)
Bye Bye Bertie, by Rick Dewhurst
Of course, the single part may change if his latest client-babe can be persuaded into casting her lot with a fruit loop who is constantly running down mental tangents silently voiced with 1940s detective lingo, probably in a Bogart accent. "Things are never so bad they can't be made worse."
Which may be the reason I wanted to slap Joe a few times while reading Rick Dewhurst’s hilarious account of about one week of his life. Joe is a Christian. I don’t doubt his sincerity; but every time someone asks if he is Joe LaFlam, he replies, “In the flesh,” and that’s how operates throughout the book. “I had the money. I would get the girl.” Unless the conspirators get him first.
Bye Bye Bertie, published in 2005 by Broadman and Holman, is far more comedy than mystery, loaded with Christian living observations which call for a grain of salt. I enjoyed it and look forward to Dewhurst’s next book. If it’s another Joe LaFlam mystery, I hope it includes Joe getting a strong kick in the pants—the rod of correction applied with the boot of common sense. (But then, if Joe was more rational, the book may not be as funny.)
- phil
Does Selling Books at the Supermarket Harm Literature?
Collected Miscellany is embroiled in a pot-boiling discussion of the health of good literature when certain books are sold on Aisle 8 between snacks foods and paper towels. Take a look at what's been said so far and join in. Is it true that "if the more profitable way to go is toward mass sales at supermarkets then more of the budget is going to go toward producing and selling those type of books. This means less money toward literary fiction"? What do you think?
Friday, July 22, 2005
Man Camp: Is Your Man Under the Feminist Thumb?
[by way of Mere Comments] Last week, a classical music DJ told a story about opening the car door for a date at the outset of their first date. She slammed the door and told him she could get the door herself. He said that was fine, hopped in the driver's seat, and drove home without her. His point was that he wanted to treat his dates politely, as a gentleman would. If she refused a simple courtesy as opening the car door, she wouldn't have wanted to spend an evening with him. I thought if he had been more polite, he would have made his point more strongly, but I sympathize with him. He was an old-school Yankee trying to charm a modern feminist (modern being two or three decades ago when this event took place). The Frozen North is filled with impolite people. Rudeness is everywhere, not like here in the South where only the tourists wonder why you're being nice to them without a profit motive. My! This broad-brush is getting heavy. Let me return to my point.
So what happens with societal pressures produce men who are less than manly? What do you do when you find yourself discussing which of your girlfriends has the girliest boyfriend? That's what happened to author Adrienne Brodeur who has written a humorous novel on the inadequacies of metrosexuals and the manliness of dairy farmers. Sort of. Man Camp was released by Random House this week. Be sure to watch the trailer on the book's site for more on the motive for writing it.
So what happens with societal pressures produce men who are less than manly? What do you do when you find yourself discussing which of your girlfriends has the girliest boyfriend? That's what happened to author Adrienne Brodeur who has written a humorous novel on the inadequacies of metrosexuals and the manliness of dairy farmers. Sort of. Man Camp was released by Random House this week. Be sure to watch the trailer on the book's site for more on the motive for writing it.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
That popular fantasy
The Jollyblogger has some good thoughts, both here and linked from here, on Harry Potter.
This Sunday's NYTimes Book Review has a piece on the Half-Blood Prince, which is quoted here.
And in case you have missed it, feel free to comment on this old thread.
Now, I leave you. Have a good night or day, and remember to strive to do what is right, not merely what is easy.
But first, I should mention Aitchmark's post on the rule of law within Harry's world of wizardry. Good thinking, sir.
This Sunday's NYTimes Book Review has a piece on the Half-Blood Prince, which is quoted here.
And in case you have missed it, feel free to comment on this old thread.
Now, I leave you. Have a good night or day, and remember to strive to do what is right, not merely what is easy.
But first, I should mention Aitchmark's post on the rule of law within Harry's world of wizardry. Good thinking, sir.
In talking over the book with my daughter, it becomes clear that the problem with the entire wizard world is that it lacks anything like the rule of law. From the beginning of the books it has been clear that power is the driving principle of the Wizarding world. The extent and nature of this was less clear in the earlier books of the series, but has become clearer in each new volume.- phil
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Elsewhere on Answers in Christian Fiction
Tom Gilson of Thinking Christian left this comment on a post at Coffee Swirls which asks where Christian sci-fi writer have gone.
Is it possible that our problem is that we must have the answers? The blogger who raised this question originally asked why Christian fiction is formulaic, and it seems to me we’ve defined our role in proclaiming the glory of God narrowly. We think of it as evangelism only; and a narrow slice of evangelism at that, the part that has to do with the moment of decision when a person’s life changes. Evangelism involves more than that moment of decision, and God’s glory involves far more than non-Christians deciding for Him (important though that is).
Christian fiction writers need to be given, and to accept, the permission to leave questions unanswered–to show the complexity of life we all experience, even those of us who follow Christ.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Canadian Court Says Don't Read Harry Potter
Thank you, Julana, for pointing out this post on Touchstone's Mere Comments. Fourteen copies of the Half-Blood Prince were sold a week early in British Columbia, but a judge on that province's supreme court says they'd better return it.
Justice Kristi Gill last Saturday ordered customers not to talk about the book, copy it, sell it or even read it before it is officially released at 12:01 a.m. July 16. The order also compels them to return the novel to the publisher, Raincoast Book Distribution Ltd., until the official release. At that time it will be returned to them.Mere Comments poster James Kushiner asks good questions about how the law will enforce this temporary censor, concluding that his glad this kind of thing doesn't happen in the States. "I am so glad I live in the United States. Now I just can't imagine any American judge doing something like this. Not in my wildest dreams." Yes, he's being sarcastic. Given enough time and the right circumstances, some of our judges will make this kind of statement, revealing that they really do think of themselves as gods who condescend to shepherd us, their little flock.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
No, I Won't Share Harry with You
Erica Noonan of the Boston Globe describes the reason she and her husband plan to buy two copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince instead of sharing one. "We both really, really want to read the book. Now."
Trying to share one copy of the book is an invitation to serious domestic unrest. . . . One of us tries to read while the other loiters around, periodically begging for a paragraph or two to be read aloud. When the reader tries to take a quick bathroom or snack break, the noncustodial spouse grabs the book and darts into a locked room. The rightful reader is forced to disassemble the door, wrestle the book back, and reclaim his or her space on the couch. The Potter-less spouse continues to pester and whine and is finally ordered to take a walk, watch a movie, or, for Pete's sake, just go somewhere, anywhere, else and leave the other alone.
HP and the HBP – TS*
USA Today and maybe dozens of other newspapers this week have some articles on Harry Potter #6, due to be unleased on the world Saturday or maybe Friday depending on which company took your pre-order. Who is the half-blood prince and what in the world will happen to Harry? I must confess that I haven’t read but a few pages from this 717,020 word series (not counting the Half-Blood Prince), and I would probably annoy serious fans by pronouncing Harry’s name with a Scottish accent (rolling the r’s and making pot into poot). I can barely help myself.
So, who is this prince? Some think it’s Godric Gryffindor, founder of Gryffindor house. In a poll at scholastic.com, 9% choose that name, but most fans believe it will be a heretofore unknown character.
What does the cover art tell us about the story? Well, Prof. Dumbledore appears to be protecting Harry and himself on the
But why bother with clues from the cover when you can drop by your favorite downtown
A couple guys got hold of it before the store realized their mistake. Reader Tim Meyer, 33, said he was up to chapter 18 by Wednesday and found the latest book “pretty shocking considering the last five books.”
“I'm not sure what I'm supposed to believe," he said.
What if I said I believe he is the result of creative promoting by the Corrupt Big Book Industry? Sure, it’s shocking, Tim. What were the sales for the fifth book in
* that is, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince—This Saturday
- phil
Bestsellers in Christian Fiction
Among the bestsellers in Christian Fiction this month are three books by Beverly Lewis. The Revelation, the last book in five book romantic series on an Amish family in Lancaster County, Penn, tops the list. Her two other books in the top ten are also set in Lancaster County: The Shunning (first in the Heritage of Lancaster County Series) and The Covenant (first in the Abrams Daughters series). Apparently, B. Lewis has a strong audience these light romances, because her books have sold a few million.
Frank Peretti's Monster is second place, a story of wooly beasts and a kidnapping. Publishers Weekly notes 400,000 copies produced in the first printing. Karen Kingsbury's name sticks out on the list with five books in the top 20, though none in the top ten. Are there bonuses for volume like this? Of course, the question remains just how many books where sold by each of these titles. Did The Revelation sell ten more than Monster? Do the numbers sharply decline anywhere on the list, say between spots 5 and 6 the number of books sold drops 800? I ask, but I get no answers. I am but a humble bloggers typing in the wasteland. - phil
Frank Peretti's Monster is second place, a story of wooly beasts and a kidnapping. Publishers Weekly notes 400,000 copies produced in the first printing. Karen Kingsbury's name sticks out on the list with five books in the top 20, though none in the top ten. Are there bonuses for volume like this? Of course, the question remains just how many books where sold by each of these titles. Did The Revelation sell ten more than Monster? Do the numbers sharply decline anywhere on the list, say between spots 5 and 6 the number of books sold drops 800? I ask, but I get no answers. I am but a humble bloggers typing in the wasteland. - phil
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
So Does It Take a Village or What?
[From World's blog] Rick Santorum, senator from Pennsylvania, has written It Takes a Family: Conversatism and the Common Good. I think the title has gotten under New York Senator Hillary Clinton's skin. The AP reports Clinton and Santorum passed each other in the Capitol building's basement. "
"It takes a village, Rick, don't forget that," Clinton called out.Heh, heh. Did Santorum come up with that title? I love it. The cover design looks like church window art and reminds me of a cross. I wonder if the designer intended a religious tone.
"It takes a family," he countered.
"Of course, a family is part of a village!" she replied.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Ian McEwan on the London Attack
From a special report in The Guardian last week, novelist Ian McEwan, who wrote about the war on terror in his most recent novel, Saturday, wrote this: "On a pub TV the breaking news services were having trouble finding the images to match the awfulness of the event. But this was not, or not yet, a public spectacle like New York or Madrid. The nightmare was happening far below our feet. . . .
"In Auden's famous poem, Musee des Beaux Arts, the tragedy of Icarus falling from the sky is accompanied by life simply refusing to be disrupted. A ploughman goes about his work, a ship "sailed calmly on", dogs keep on with "their doggy business". In London yesterday, where crowds fumbling with mobile phones tried to find unimpeded ways across the city, there was much evidence of the truth of Auden's insight. While rescue workers searched for survivors and the dead in the smoke-filled blackness below, at pavement level men were loading lorries, a woman sold umbrellas in her usual patch, the lunchtime sandwich makers were hard at work."
Monday, July 11, 2005
Quotes from Some of the Bigs
From an article on the BookExpo last month:
Novelist Nick Hornby noted that he used to be a high school teacher "and I hated every moment of it. I don't want to go back there."I wonder just how many of that "huge body" do something close to his "every morning" schedule. - phil
Umberto Eco on inspiration: "I don't listen to people when they are talking to me," he said. "I muse. I'm thinking about something else."
He noted that once in conversation, a friend "used a word, I forget which one. I started musing. My friend said, 'Umberto, you are not listening to me,' and I said, 'I'm sorry, I was writing my new novel.'
"He was so excited he inspired my new novel, he bought me a second martini!"
Michael Cunningham: "I do this every morning. I walk up six flights of stairs in the West Village . . . I sit there by myself all day, like a figment of my own imagination, like Rapunzel, though I don't have nearly as much hair. It seems like a frail and tiny act to find the next sentence . . . and I just can't tell you what a thrill it is to be in this dauntingly large room and be reminded there's a huge body of us doing all of this together."
Odds on Becoming a Successful Author
Here's a column with some cheery news. The odds of one of us making enough to live off the income from our original books are 380 to 1.
That figure comes from Greg Slominski, who is trying to market his novel, Princess and The Bean, which appears to be self-published. Being an engineer, he worked the numbers based on 195,000 books in 2004 and 5% of authors who make a living off their books alone. Read the column for more details.
Despite my inexperience in publishing, I don't trust those numbers.
Were 195,000 books really published last year? Industry researcher R.R. Bowker is supposed to be the source for that number. Their site lists a preliminary 182,000. I know that may not be the most current, but the number does includes every book published. For fiction only, 25,184 are counted. Literature, 4,671. How many of the 195k are reprints, new editions, coloring books, textbooks, or workbook companions?
The 5% figure comes from publicist Rick Frishman. He says it isn't a hard percentage; just one to get people thinking. Ok, but how many published authors want to make a living off their books, by which I do not mean living exclusively but significantly so? What is the percentage of those who succeed in relation to all who try? More like 15%?
Many books are written by teachers, scholars, executives, and ministry leaders. Most literature seems to be written by professors, which I think is a good system; but far too often for my taste, I hear that the author of a Christian book has a ministry on the same topic or is a pastor. Where are the regular guys? Where are the artists?
Maybe they are the ones outside that 5%. - phil
That figure comes from Greg Slominski, who is trying to market his novel, Princess and The Bean, which appears to be self-published. Being an engineer, he worked the numbers based on 195,000 books in 2004 and 5% of authors who make a living off their books alone. Read the column for more details.
Despite my inexperience in publishing, I don't trust those numbers.
Were 195,000 books really published last year? Industry researcher R.R. Bowker is supposed to be the source for that number. Their site lists a preliminary 182,000. I know that may not be the most current, but the number does includes every book published. For fiction only, 25,184 are counted. Literature, 4,671. How many of the 195k are reprints, new editions, coloring books, textbooks, or workbook companions?
The 5% figure comes from publicist Rick Frishman. He says it isn't a hard percentage; just one to get people thinking. Ok, but how many published authors want to make a living off their books, by which I do not mean living exclusively but significantly so? What is the percentage of those who succeed in relation to all who try? More like 15%?
Many books are written by teachers, scholars, executives, and ministry leaders. Most literature seems to be written by professors, which I think is a good system; but far too often for my taste, I hear that the author of a Christian book has a ministry on the same topic or is a pastor. Where are the regular guys? Where are the artists?
Maybe they are the ones outside that 5%. - phil
Collected Miscellany Story Contest Winner
The short story contest held at Collected Misc. last month has ended, and today the winner has been announced. Cowtown Pattie of the blog Texas Trifles submitted "Beer Magic and Goat Philosophy," which you can read at Collected Misc. Congratulations, Pattie. "Beer Magic and Goat Philosophy" is an enjoyable story about an old man who raised goats and had a faithful dog. "Surrounded by craggy piles of cast-off junk, the little fly-speck shanty he called home appeared even more tenuous than its occupant. His only visible means of support was the occasional sale of a piece of his landscape and whose resulting vacant spot among the rubble was quickly filled twice-over."
Kevin will post two more contest submissions this week. Feel free to comment.
Kevin will post two more contest submissions this week. Feel free to comment.
Violence and Poetry
From the Washington Post in a review of James Lee Burke's Crusader's Cross: "Throughout the novel, and all of Burke's writing, lyrical moments alternate with terrible violence. One wonders what impact this fierce juxtaposition has had on Burke's popularity. Readers who love beautiful prose do not always enjoy violence, and those who relish violence may grow impatient with Burke's poetry. But if you believe, as he does, that beauty and horror go hand in hand in this life, he can touch you in ways few writers can."
Friday, July 08, 2005
John Calvin Played Golf
I spent some time today discussing Scripture and Calvin's teaching on Thinklings.org today, and lo, Kevin blogs on Calvinism and golf. For an article in the current Books and Culture, Mark Galli writes, "It appears that golfers don't give a rip whether golf can teach them something about life." They just want to play the game well, which is too bad, because "golf is Protestantism on steroids."
For example, it seems patently clear that golf is a living apologetic for hard-core Calvinism. You hit a near-perfect iron to the green, so accurate it strikes the flag stick—and then ricochets off and ends up in a sand trap. So much for your perfect iron. On the next hole, you wickedly slice a drive into a thick cluster of trees, hear a frightening thud—and see your ball magically bounce out into the middle of the fairway. This sort of thing happens in every round. There is no sense shaking one's fist heavenward or cursing the ways of this inscrutable god. If one wants to get on in the life of golf, the best posture is to humbly accept this god's complete sovereignty and prepare for the next shot.
. . .
Catholic theologian (also, as I recall, an NFL coach) Vince Lombardi put it most Christianly: "Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing." This does not mean that anything goes, for as Huizinga notes play "proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner." But it is not play unless it is engaged "intensely and utterly." I'm not sure how golf can be played if you don't keep score, and you don't strive to keep that score low. It is these limitations and passions that are golf's genius, at the very core of its freedom and joy.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Spotted in the NY Times
The guys at Forward, a design blog, have been referenced in Thursday's NYTimes in an article on similarities between book covers. Note the photo of two pairs books. The article describes publishing a book on a similar theme as an existing book and using the same cover art is "the publishing equivalent of arriving at a party wearing the same dress as the hostess."
The Cream Rises: Levi's Will
What about the good Christian fiction out there? When we noted the complaints of many books sold as Xian-Fi, are we saying all of them are bad? Because many Mind & Media reviewers are reading Levi's Will by W. Dale Cramer (Bethany House, July 2005), I asked Sherry at Semicolon if she thinks that books is squarely Xian-Fi and still a good read. She said, "I do think Levi's Will 'breaks the mold' to some extent. First of all, it's a male-centered book without being sci-fi or thriller. The female characters in the book are not well-developed and are not the focus of the book. It's also Christ-centered without being preachy."
In her review of the book, Sherry writes, "Christian fiction in general has come a long way in the past several years, and this book in particular demonstrates that fact. Instead of a hackneyed formula plot in which the main character meets a crisis, prays or gets saved, and then lives happily ever after, Dale Cramer gives the reader full characters, an unpredictable and suspenseful story, a picture of a different cultural milieu, and themes that will speak to any father, any son . . ."
Booklist starred the review of Levi's Will by John Mort, who called it "beautiful and original." He said, "Christian novels often mask as realistic, but the Evangelical Christian Publishing Association's code of purity, and the necessity to take the party line on doctrinal matters, is more likely to inspire propaganda than realism. Cramer vaults past such restrictions, however, with his story . . ."
Also see Violet Nesdoly's review which was picked up by Cleveland.com through Blogcritics.org. She praises the book in several observations and concludes her review by saying, "The wisdom and depth of understanding coming from it made me wonder more than once, what did it really cost Cramer, in lived experience and soul-searching, to write this story. It asks deep questions like what does God want from you, how do you know what real love is, and how do you conquer anger at hurts as deep as a father’s rejection. But it doesn’t preach. Instead it suggests answers in such a winsome and moving way, you’ll be pondering them long after you’ve read the last page."
So, the cream rises to the top in this case. I think the de facto mission of all lit blogs is to recognize and promote the cream wherever we find it--at least, I hope to. Complaining isn't nearly as fun as praising.
In her review of the book, Sherry writes, "Christian fiction in general has come a long way in the past several years, and this book in particular demonstrates that fact. Instead of a hackneyed formula plot in which the main character meets a crisis, prays or gets saved, and then lives happily ever after, Dale Cramer gives the reader full characters, an unpredictable and suspenseful story, a picture of a different cultural milieu, and themes that will speak to any father, any son . . ."
Booklist starred the review of Levi's Will by John Mort, who called it "beautiful and original." He said, "Christian novels often mask as realistic, but the Evangelical Christian Publishing Association's code of purity, and the necessity to take the party line on doctrinal matters, is more likely to inspire propaganda than realism. Cramer vaults past such restrictions, however, with his story . . ."
Also see Violet Nesdoly's review which was picked up by Cleveland.com through Blogcritics.org. She praises the book in several observations and concludes her review by saying, "The wisdom and depth of understanding coming from it made me wonder more than once, what did it really cost Cramer, in lived experience and soul-searching, to write this story. It asks deep questions like what does God want from you, how do you know what real love is, and how do you conquer anger at hurts as deep as a father’s rejection. But it doesn’t preach. Instead it suggests answers in such a winsome and moving way, you’ll be pondering them long after you’ve read the last page."
So, the cream rises to the top in this case. I think the de facto mission of all lit blogs is to recognize and promote the cream wherever we find it--at least, I hope to. Complaining isn't nearly as fun as praising.
Phil Johnson is in London this week
My goodness! This photo shows the almost funny irony of necessary official messages. Cell phones networks are blocked for emergency use. Transit is down everywhere. London is definitely closed.
Phil Johnson, who blogs at Pryomaniac, was in London this week and in or near the Metro when the bombs exploded. He was not near the danger zone, but just being in the city probably feels too close. He writes, "In a remarkable twist of irony, former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani was in London, having breakfast very close to Liverpool Street when the attacks began."
Of course, Adrian Warnock is in London every week. Today, he writes, "I was struck today with a thought from the bible where we are urged to be "giving thanks always" (Eph 5:20) This evening, I asked myself what can we give thanks for today in the midst of the shock that terrorism brings to the city so close to my heart?" He goes on to list family safety, the relatively small scale of the disaster in London, the Internet for its connection with God's people in distant place, and emergency services.
May God bless London, England, Scotland, and all the U.K. and may the British and everyone near them turn their hearts to back to him.
My goodness! This photo shows the almost funny irony of necessary official messages. Cell phones networks are blocked for emergency use. Transit is down everywhere. London is definitely closed.Phil Johnson, who blogs at Pryomaniac, was in London this week and in or near the Metro when the bombs exploded. He was not near the danger zone, but just being in the city probably feels too close. He writes, "In a remarkable twist of irony, former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani was in London, having breakfast very close to Liverpool Street when the attacks began."
Of course, Adrian Warnock is in London every week. Today, he writes, "I was struck today with a thought from the bible where we are urged to be "giving thanks always" (Eph 5:20) This evening, I asked myself what can we give thanks for today in the midst of the shock that terrorism brings to the city so close to my heart?" He goes on to list family safety, the relatively small scale of the disaster in London, the Internet for its connection with God's people in distant place, and emergency services.
May God bless London, England, Scotland, and all the U.K. and may the British and everyone near them turn their hearts to back to him.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
That Nagging Question of Informative Entertainment
In an interview with David Gregory, first-time fiction author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, Cindy Solomon, an editor with Spring Arbor's Christian Advance, asks how the book came to be. Gregory replied, "The idea germinated from a graduate class I took which logically examined different worldviews. I envisioned weaving the material into a larger context. After some time, I found that what I truly wanted was a book that would present the person and work of Jesus Christ in a way that people would find engaging and entertaining--something I personally would want to hand to family or friends. There wasn't anything on the market that did that to my satisfaction."
So the author wanted an engaging and entertaining book on Jesus, and he didn't find it. What do you think? The Bronze Bow comes to mind as a good historically based story, but I doubt he was looking for that kind of thing. - phil
So the author wanted an engaging and entertaining book on Jesus, and he didn't find it. What do you think? The Bronze Bow comes to mind as a good historically based story, but I doubt he was looking for that kind of thing. - phil
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Christian Fiction, How Art Thou?
In World's cover article on Christian fiction reaching outside their traditional market, they quote a couple insiders who describe Xian-Fi's main problem.
J. Mark Bertrand has blogged on this subject repeatedly, and this time he stirred up an interesting discussion with Xian-Fi readers and writers. "More often than not, I pick up a CBA novel only to find it unreadable," he writes. "All I can think is that the standard for publication is too low. Of course, this isn't true of every CBA title." He then takes up a reply to an interview with author Brandilyn Collins published on another blog.
"Unfortunately," he says, "the industry does not encourage criticism, and so there are few serious book reviews. The ones that exist tend to judge CBA fiction by its own standards, so they aren't particularly helpful for my purposes."
You know, I want to give serious reviews on this blog and Collected Misc., but if I choose to review less seriously, I think it's out of affection for the author's position. It's hard to write. It's far harder write a novel-length work, and when editors and agents who read more than I do successfully promote its publication, I don't want to be on the other side of the court telling everyone to return to the bench. When I don't like a book, meaning I find it "unreadable," I don't review it. In my book, silence is worse than criticism; no reviews condemn more harshly than poor reviews. But I do understand the ugliness of unserious, that is silly, reviews, those by writers who fawn over an author using words like "genius," "brilliant," "awesome." That's just fan-praise, about as good as fan fiction. Encouraging, I'm sure, but--well--unserious. Praise like that needs to be backed up by book sales.
According to the principles of free-market economics, competition improves quality. And when Christians had only to publish for each other, quality did slip. "There is reason for some Christian writers to be quarantined," said Mr. Lee. "You want Christian writers to be writing on the level as in the regular market." Mr. Arnold agrees: "Most traditional Christian fiction was less focused on the art of story and more focused on an agenda-driven approach," he said. "The goal of many authors was to 'teach' the reader a doctrine through an often one-dimensional story. Ironically, it often wasn't a prejudice against Christian content that caused most of these novels to be rejected in the general marketÂ?the stories simply did not pass the test of great fiction."When telling or teaching dominates a story, it becomes a morality play or sermon illustration not matter what label is printed on the cover. Xian-Fi authors will write real novels and stronger stories if they follow their characters and allow competing voices to hold the stage in a good light for a while.
J. Mark Bertrand has blogged on this subject repeatedly, and this time he stirred up an interesting discussion with Xian-Fi readers and writers. "More often than not, I pick up a CBA novel only to find it unreadable," he writes. "All I can think is that the standard for publication is too low. Of course, this isn't true of every CBA title." He then takes up a reply to an interview with author Brandilyn Collins published on another blog.
"Unfortunately," he says, "the industry does not encourage criticism, and so there are few serious book reviews. The ones that exist tend to judge CBA fiction by its own standards, so they aren't particularly helpful for my purposes."
You know, I want to give serious reviews on this blog and Collected Misc., but if I choose to review less seriously, I think it's out of affection for the author's position. It's hard to write. It's far harder write a novel-length work, and when editors and agents who read more than I do successfully promote its publication, I don't want to be on the other side of the court telling everyone to return to the bench. When I don't like a book, meaning I find it "unreadable," I don't review it. In my book, silence is worse than criticism; no reviews condemn more harshly than poor reviews. But I do understand the ugliness of unserious, that is silly, reviews, those by writers who fawn over an author using words like "genius," "brilliant," "awesome." That's just fan-praise, about as good as fan fiction. Encouraging, I'm sure, but--well--unserious. Praise like that needs to be backed up by book sales.
Writing and Blogging, A Good Mix?
The NYTimes has an interesting article on authors who also blog, but before I get into it, let me point you to Julana's good quote and recommendation on writing. Many of us lead "humble and uneventful" lives, and we need communities in whatever way they can be formed to share them with each other.
NYTimes reporter Tania Ralli quotes the same reason I've heard from other writers on the joys of blogging. "It is very satisfying to write something and get an immediate response to it," said John Battelle, who calculated that last year he wrote 74,000 words for his book, and 125,000 words on his blog. "It is less satisfying to write a chapter and let it sit on the shelf for six months."
Too much feedback can overwhelm some authors, but if blogging builds trust in readers, I think it's worth the trouble. Still, there's more to blogging for published authors:
Do blogs sell books? The article says it's too early to say, but columnist James Watkins believes blogs are meant to sell books, in part. Number 4 on his "Top Ten Column-writing Secrets Revealed," is shameless self-promotion. "I'm not above using excerpts from my 14 books for columns, and then shamelessly mentioning that they are available at www.amazon.com. And if you have a Web site with your best (?) columns archived, you can make references to it through out the entire column."
NYTimes reporter Tania Ralli quotes the same reason I've heard from other writers on the joys of blogging. "It is very satisfying to write something and get an immediate response to it," said John Battelle, who calculated that last year he wrote 74,000 words for his book, and 125,000 words on his blog. "It is less satisfying to write a chapter and let it sit on the shelf for six months."
Too much feedback can overwhelm some authors, but if blogging builds trust in readers, I think it's worth the trouble. Still, there's more to blogging for published authors:
Authors who have experimented with blogging in this way - and there are still only a handful - say they hope to create a sense of community around their work and to keep fans informed when a new book is percolating. The novelist Aaron Hamburger used his blog to write about research techniques he employed to set his coming book in Berlin. Poppy Z. Brite, another novelist, has written about her characters on her blog as though they have a life of their own, not just the one springing from her imagination.Blogging on the characters in a book? That's cool. It's back-story and instant sequel combined. Boundless opportunities for historic fiction, in which a writer may not believe he can include several great points of research in the story but can blog them.
Do blogs sell books? The article says it's too early to say, but columnist James Watkins believes blogs are meant to sell books, in part. Number 4 on his "Top Ten Column-writing Secrets Revealed," is shameless self-promotion. "I'm not above using excerpts from my 14 books for columns, and then shamelessly mentioning that they are available at www.amazon.com. And if you have a Web site with your best (?) columns archived, you can make references to it through out the entire column."
Friday, July 01, 2005
Useless
James of Armavirumque points out what may be a completely useless book, by which I mean silly political propaganda as opposed to dangerous polit. prop. "Never before have voices of protest been so locked out of the mainstream conversation," says author Lewis Lapham in Gag Rule: On the Supression of Dissent and the Stifling of Democracy. That sounds like a complaint that a liberal talk show host doesn't have a weekly audience of 20 million, like Rush Limbaugh. Terribly unfair.
From Publishers Weekly on Gag Rule: "Lapham also levels forceful criticism at our educational system: 'An inept and insolent bureaucracy armed with badly written textbooks instills in the class the attitudes of passivity, compliance, and boredom.' This, charges Lapham, results in schools producing citizens who blindly accept the pronouncements of their leaders." Here, here. Wait, the department of education was founded by progressives, public schools are largely secular and often politicized, and the NEA is controlled by liberals. Is Lapham complaining that liberalism in the schools instills "passivity, compliance, and boredom"? I wonder if he supports teaching intelligent design along with evolution.
From Publishers Weekly on Gag Rule: "Lapham also levels forceful criticism at our educational system: 'An inept and insolent bureaucracy armed with badly written textbooks instills in the class the attitudes of passivity, compliance, and boredom.' This, charges Lapham, results in schools producing citizens who blindly accept the pronouncements of their leaders." Here, here. Wait, the department of education was founded by progressives, public schools are largely secular and often politicized, and the NEA is controlled by liberals. Is Lapham complaining that liberalism in the schools instills "passivity, compliance, and boredom"? I wonder if he supports teaching intelligent design along with evolution.
