Today I finish packing, then launch out to drive to St. Louis for the first Realm Makers.

There I’ll help announce the winner of the Clive Staples Award at the conference’s costume dinner tomorrow night, Friday, Aug. 2. Internet readers will then learn of that winner this coming Saturday — and each contest finalist will also receive a handsome certificate.

But in the meantime, even while Spec-Faith was having its machinery broken by gremlins, I was able to keep up my own attempts to explore epic stories for God’s glory. That’s because last month I also joined Christ and Pop Culture, at the Patheos “religion blogs” network.

You’ve likely seen some CAPC links here at Spec-Faith. On occasion they’ve returned the favor. And because discerning and enjoying all culture is a favorite topic, I had to join.

Today before I leave, I’m finishing a feature for CAPC that will compare a certain bestselling secular fantasy series with a certain bestselling evangelical fantasy series, all to ask the big question: which series, for all its redeeming qualities, is more often abused by readers to justify real-life mysticism and superstition? But my existing columns are here, including:

1. Going Beyond ‘Yay! It’s a Christ-Figure’

Recently I’ve adopted a new parody catchphrase that goes something like this: “Yay! It’s a Christian story.” This phrase seems useful for affectionately sarcastic observations such as:

1. (Quote from a review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) “Soon after Gandalf comes to Bilbo, 13 dwarves show up, a biblical number.” Yay! It’s a Christian story.
2. An episode of the sadly short-lived Green Lantern: The Animated Series quoted from 1 Cor. 13 and showed “greater love.” My own reaction: Yay! It’s a Christian story.
3. In Oz The Great and Powerful, the wizard crashes and prays, “Get me out of here and I’ll do great things.” Later: “Thank You. You won’t regret this.” Yay! It’s a Christian story.

People suspect that is exactly how a story becomes Christian: pray to God, quote a Biblical phrase, or even have a “Biblical number” of something. For those who believe this is my Father’s world, with our Father’s work in nature, Scripture, and math, this is a partial truth. Yet it can be hijacked into forced attempts to find subtle Biblical references in stories. … (Read the rest)

2. Breaking News: ‘Faith-Based’ Films Take On Hollywood

Where did you expect to see former senator Rick Santorum a year after his presidential campaign? How about as the head of a new faith-based film studio?

Yes, and one focused on making its own story with a stunning plot twist: They’ll offer actual quality movies, but faith-based.

The Religion News Service reported:

[Santorum said] faith-based films tend to be lousy, and Christians should quit trying to lock modern popular culture out of their lives. . . . “For a long time, Christians have decided that the best way to fight the popular culture is to keep it at bay, to lock it out of their home. … That’s a losing battle,” Santorum said in an interview . . .

Reading this brings me the same response as hearing, say, that “The Church is in Trouble,” or that “More Christian Men Must Man Up”: You don’t say?

Surely most Christians agree we must reject those “lock out pop culture” notions. But we seem confused about what’s next and especially why. … (Read the rest)

3. Rachael Slick’s Deconversion and the Two Paths of Life: Dead Logic or Living Joy

It’s risky to start saying, “This person’s rejection of faith could have been avoided If Only …”

Still, if someone says her father was a relatively well-known apologetics group founder, and she memorized all the debate points but now rejects Christ, let’s take heed.

Faith rejections have many causes. One may be sincere appraisal of other religions. Another may be an opposition to Christian sexual ethics (as Tim Keller suggested). But in her Monday column for Friendly Atheist, Rachael Slick emphasized her apologetics-based upbringing — an upbringing that backfired.

[…] Novelist and screenwriter Brian Godawa’s story begins similarly. As a younger Christian, he likewise craved apologetics, evidence, facts, doctrines, and debate (and still enjoys these).

In his opening chapter of his nonfiction Word Pictures, he describes where this craving led. … (Read the rest)

4. Finding Super-Blessings Among Cinematic Bombs

Superhero films result in many small blessings, perhaps including the amusing fact that some critics seem determined to coax themselves into disillusionment with the genre.

After the last Comic-Con, I’ve heard more such views from secular and Christian critics.

Secular critics seem to say: The superhero genre is tired; Hollywood is stretching to make a super-mint. Recently DrudgeReport.com gave its own headline to the Man of Steel sequel story: “Studio tries SUPERMANBATMAN.” You’d think all such projects risk the same box-office doom as, say, The Lone Ranger or R.I.P.D. But fans reacted excitedly (such as here).

Meanwhile, some Christian critiques tend to sound like that of fantasy author and film reviewer Jeffrey Overstreet. … (Rest the rest)

You mean I actually remembered to post a column with only two weeks between them instead of four? I’m just as shocked as you are! Allons-y!

Ahem. I’ve been watching too much Dr. Who lately.

Anyway. Let’s get back to talking about deus ex machina. Last time, I mused about whether or not Rose was a deus ex machina when she saved the Doctor from the Daleks. I also considered the possibility that the Doctor himself is a walking deus ex machina, since he always seems to stumble on the right answer after being thoroughly stumped for most of the episode. Several of you disagreed with my assessments (one person pointed out that Rose simply wanted to communicate with the TARDIS, which is true), and that’s okay. I’m a big boy. I can handle a little disagreement.

But what does this have to do with Christian fiction? Well, I wonder if, at times, we’re guilty of accepting deus ex machinas at the end of our stories. And I’m also wondering if that’s really a bad thing or not.

In recent years, I’ve read a number of Christian speculative fiction (some of them award-winners or nominees) that seemingly have their endings firmly rooted in the tradition of deus ex machina. The heroes have their backs up against the wall, it looks like the forces of evil are going to triumph, and then God (or His stand-in, depending on the book) unleashes some sort of miraculous intervention that sweeps away the bad guys and saves the day. It took me a while to notice, but the more I thought about it, the more stories I realized had that ending.

And to be quite frank, I don’t know what to think of that.

I mean, the deus ex machina is derided as a literary device and for good reason. Think about it this way: would you be satisfied with a book where a person is having a bad life, but then, when he or she converts to Christianity, everything suddenly turns out okay? Of course not! We know that’s not a valid way to end the story. It’s unrealistic. It’s a deus ex machina, even if we don’t call it that.

But what about the miracle endings we see in Christian speculative fiction? Are those bad?

The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve come to realize that no, they’re not. A deus ex machina is only a deus ex machina if the solution to the story’s problems don’t logically flow from the story’s situation. If the author has already established that God is a character in his or her novel, that divine intervention is a possibility, then it’s not necessarily a deus ex machina if God intervenes in a miraculous way. So long as the author has established that this is a possibility, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Or am I wrong? Let me know in the comments below. What do you think? When is a deus ex machina okay?

Christian filmmakers plus noted direct-to-DVD actor Nicolas Cage want to snatch you away into an escapist world of eschatological novelty, easy villainy, and evangelical vindication.

Or if you prefer, the Lalonde Bros. want to translate the troubling signs of our times into yet another film adaptation of the Left Behind series, which preaches Gospel while also asking “what if” about actual, literal, could-even-happen-soon end-times prophecy from the Bible.

Either way, Left Behind fiction author Jerry B. Jenkins recently said filming starts in August.

And I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Looking back on ‘Left Behind’

I’m a Left Behind fan, but also a recovering end-times junkie who sees how the series has been used for anti-Biblical ends.¹ Most recently I attempted to blog my way through the dramatic audio series,² which is the best alt-media adaptation of the novels. And like many, I was sorely vexed by the Left Behind movie in 2000. My critiques, in order:

1. Jesus Christ got perhaps two Name drops, but without Gospel content. (No, I don’t insist on this for a Christian movie, but it’s required for this story!)
2. They released the film on VHS, and then to theaters? What last-days madness is this?
3. You never actually saw anyone vanishing in a “Rapture.” Not even in flashbacks.
4. The whole thing felt very cramped and limited, whereas the novel, despite its own prose and thematic limitations, managed at least to aim for a global scale.
5. Kirk Cameron looks too young for his part. (Of course, alas, he always does.)
6. The VHS was advertised on The Jack Van Impe Show. To this day I have a mental MP4 of Rexella Van Impe holding up the VHS cover, excitedly cooing, “Left Behind!”
7. The Antichrist’s secret conspiracy managed to get mixed up in a lot of silly nonsense about Controlling the World’s Food Supply. What was that about? Despite the book’s arguably implausible justifications for driving the Antichrist to power³, it didn’t try this oddness.

The second direct-to-video film continued the cinematic claustrophobia, lack of impressive visuals (the Two Witnesses breathing fire on folks was about it) severely local evangelical advertising, and strange non-book additions.⁴

The only improvement was the addition of more overt Gospel content, possibly because between movie 1 and movie 2, Kirk Cameron got ahold of Way of the Master Ministries. In Left Behind 2: Tribulation Force the “Way” even made a direct appearance. “Have you ever told a lie?” Cameron’s character asks an extraneous pagan character. Then he says that we’re condemned under God’s Law, and must repent and receive Christ’s forgiveness.

It’s true, yes, but here’s the difference: even in the LB book series, Gospel presentations and conversions were, by comparison, more organic to the plot. Rather than witnessing to a bit character, Buck Williams shares his story with a Jewish rabbi who was already planning a “who is the Jewish Messiah” TV presentation. This comes after the two leads’ meeting and confrontations with supernatural prophets, and during the story’s action. The story doesn’t need to come to a screeching halt, as if the tellers are saying: Okay, now that we’ve had our fun, it’s time for the Lesson, and after that we’ll play some more.

The third movie I never even saw. I understand it wildly departed from the books and went off into its own Lalonde Brothers-esque storyline about virus-contaminated Bibles.

So why remake ‘Left Behind’?

Perhaps I’ve been absent certain circles of Christianity for a while — but is dispensational end-times theology on the rise? Are people rediscovering the Left Behind series for reasons other than my own (nostalgia?). Is it dislike for the current presidential administration that, as in the Clinton years, leads some Christians to conclude The End is Near?⁵ Was there an online petition for the same filmmakers to remake this and cast Nicolas Cage in the lead role?

By the way, this isn’t a reboot. A reboot takes the same character, usually a superhero, and acts like the previous franchise never existed. A remake does the same story over, and is usually never as good as the original.

If Left Behind 2014 ends up reversing that rule over Left Behind 2000, it would be a miracle.

And if more Christians quit “allowing” speculative enjoyments only in the field of “it could really happen!” end-times genres, that may be even more miraculous.

Still, this is a touchpoint. Instead of lambasting Left Behind, remakes, and yes even Nicolas Cage, let’s try something like this: “So you like supernatural villains, sci-fi and fantastical worlds? Guess what. Christians have more stories for that. Here’s where you can find them. And you don’t even need to freak out over barcode scanners or donate to Jack Van Impe.”

Last month at the Christy Awards, agent Lee Hough who has been battling brain cancer for two years, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. This week he wrote publicly that the cancer has returned. Originally his MRI was clear, but he began to experience some of the symptoms he’d had earlier. His doctor ordered a second scan and from those results determined that the cancer is terminal, that his life expectancy would be two months. That was seven weeks ago.

Lee has resigned his position as Vice President at Alive Communications, and is preparing for what’s next. He said in his Caring Bridge journal

I’d like to close this Caring Bridge with these beautiful contrasts from Paul:

* That we are sown a perishable body, but raised imperishable.
(1 Cor.15:42)
* Sown in dishonor, raised in glory (43)
* Sown in weakness, raised in power (43)
* Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body (44)

My friends, we’ve prayed for healing and whether that may still yet happen in this temporal world or not, I believe I’m about to receive that permanently.

Thank you all for showing Paula and I Jesus in the way that you have prayed, loved, and supported us through this journey.

Sown in weakness, raised in power.

Lee

Then today I get Donita Paul‘s newsletter in which she discloses more about the recent health struggles she’s been facing. As some of you might know, she suffered a mild stroke back in March which affected the vision in one eye. She lost eighty percent of her sight and the doctor said this was permanent. The good news is that her physical therapy included reading! She also reports that there has been improvement and she is able to write again, though her health issues have obviously set back the completion of her current project. She’s in the middle of a new trilogy, the first book scheduled to release early next year.

Both Lee’s situation and Donita’s remind me that we’re not playing around. Life is real and what we do with it determines what comes next. That’s true for readers as much as it is for writers.

So much of culture, in the US at least, is involved with living for what makes us happy. Consequently, the best thing for the majority of the work force is the weekend.

When it comes to students, a good many in college are there for the party. That mentality has filtered down into high school and even into middle school.

Readers can adopt that same perspective–I read to feel numb to real life.

Writers can feed that focus–we write to entertain.

If you’ve spent any time here at Spec Faith, you know that those of us writing regularly think there’s more to stories than a jolt of adrenalin or a hard yank on the heart strings. Stories should matter the same way life does. They are an extension of the author and his or her purposes.

If we are to speak the truth in real life, then we should be speaking the truth in our stories. If we are to edify one another in real life, then our stories should edify. You get the picture.

It’s not always easy to remember that this is what stories are all about–or what they should be all about. As readers, we need to be alert and aware. Where is truth? Is there something edifying?

As writers we should be fixed on writing well. A funny story–or a sad one, an adventurous one, a mysterious one–without truth is an empty shell.

On the other hand, truth laid out point by point is not a story. It’s like all the vitamins and nutrients we need to live, stripped of the delicious flavor of food.

Stories with power show the truth rather than telling it, and we writers need to become experts at our craft. After all, our stories are part of the bigger picture–life–where people get cancer and have strokes and turn to God for help and hope, where they find comfort in the prayers of God’s people, and where they inspire the rest of us with their courage and trust.

Our stories need to do that. They need to be more than frivolous time wasters. And we readers need to seek out the stories that aspire to something greater than the promise of a few hours of oblivion. They need to matter because life matters, because God has put us here for much more than filling in the blanks.

Based on a few reviews and comments concerning my Christian sci-fi series, Gateway to Gannah, I must conclude that a segment of the reading public considers the phrase Christian sci-fi an oxymoron. In their view, Christianity and science in any form simply do not mix.

It’s a bit perplexing. The term science fiction (which true fans prefer to abbreviate “SF”) describes a wide swath across the literary world, much of it a far cry from hard science. And most people are okay with that. But mention the scriptures in the sci-fi context, and eyebrows rise high. What does Christianity have to do with science?

That attitude is understandable, I suppose, given Galileo’s infamous conviction by the Roman Inquisition in the early 1600s. Most don’t understand that the incident had more to do with ignorant abuse of power than scriptural truth. The Roman Catholic Church at the time held the official position that the earth is a fixed object with the sun and stars moving around it. They based their opinion on the scriptures—but nowhere does the Bible actually teach that.

It’s important to understand that the Bible is not a science book. It deals with spiritual truth (things we mortals are ill equipped to comprehend without supernatural guidance), not physical realities (things we can observe with our own faculties). It makes reference to physical facts: Job 6:6, the observation that an egg white is rather tasteless without salt; Ecclesiastes 1:7, which deals with the water cycle; or 1 Corinthians 15:36-41, discussing elements of seed germination, species distinctions, and the variations in light intensities of various celestial bodies. But it points to these flesh-and-blood things that we’re all familiar with in order to illustrate spiritual truths. It’s obvious from their context and the content that these verses were not written to teach astronomy, biology, or scientific principles.

And that, I believe, is where we get messed up. The medieval church interpreted verses such as 1 Chronicles 16:30 and some of the Psalms (93:1, 96:10, 104:5) that stated that God will not allow the earth to “move” as dogmatically teaching that the physical earth is fixed in space. To them, reference to the sun “rising” (Ecclesiastes 1:5) taught it was the sun that moved, not the earth. But if you read those passages, you’ll see the position of things in space is not the point. In each case, the physical example illustrates a spiritual truth.

Church people are by no means the only ones who misinterpret evidence.

All of us tend to take the information our senses provide and translate it into a language our personal perspective and worldview can understand. And sometimes, we mistranslate.

Evolutionists and creationists alike accuse one another of the same thing: his mind is already made up; he won’t listen to reason. Or, how could any thinking person be so blind to the plain truth?  We think when someone doesn’t see things the way we do, that person must really be dense.

There are a significant number (though I don’t know the statistics) of highly educated scientists in all disciplines who are Christians, and creationists. They accept the same physical evidence that the evolutionists see, but they interpret it differently. They realize that, although some might see these things as being contradictory to the scriptures, the evidence—God’s revelation in the physical realm—is always and altogether consistent with God’s written revelation. He cannot lie; therefore, both His world and His word are true. When we can’t see a way to reconcile the two, it’s not necessarily that one or another is wrong, but that we don’t fully understand.

Since all SF is speculative (imaginative what-if scenarios based on reality), it’s not unreasonable that some of these scenarios might involve God. If someone thinks that’s inappropriate, I’m not offended. What bothers me—in case you haven’t figured it out from my previous posts—is when people come up with speculative theories and call it science.

Earlier, I mentioned the so-called Big Bang Theory as one such piece of hard sci-fi-billed-as-fact. Today, let’s take a look at DNA (the existence of which is hinted at in 1 Corinthians 15:39, as mentioned above).

As I’m sure you’re already aware, DNA is the abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid, a complex chemical structure that contains an organism’s genetic code. Each of the human body’s approximately 100 trillion cells contains about 10 billion DNA molecules, sometimes called base pairs. The sequence of chemicals within these base pairs provides the instructional code for your entire body.

Not only are these structures intensely complex, but also, the information contained within the DNA code must be translated so the organism’s tissues can use it. Positive and negative electrical impulses are required to perform these operations. All this is accomplished with intricate perfection in a process similar to a highly advanced, highly miniaturized computer. This is not the venue for detailing all this, but more information is readily available to anyone who wants to research it. Suffice it to say that even in a single-celled creature, the utter complexity of these molecules is astonishing.

This is all fact, not fiction, and I’ve never heard of anyone denying it. But creationists look at the evidence in its breathtaking awesomeness and see it all as God’s magnificent design. Evolutionists look at the same facts and say, wow, isn’t it amazing what can happen when lightning strikes some dirty water.

Yes, that’s how the story goes. Lightning struck, and voila! A living creature with a complete genetic code, able to eat, digest, and replicate itself. And turn itself into a yet more complex organism with its own distinct genetic code. Don’t talk to me about some mythical intelligent being who designs and creates—that’s just fairy tales. Let’s stick to hard science, things we can test and prove.

Or so they say.

The more we learn about this world we live in and the universe in which it exists, the more complicated we find it. The dizzying depth of its intricacies makes it impossible to imagine its having created itself by random chance, as some say “science” proves. The evidence is neutral, however, and by itself, proves nothing; it’s people’s interpretations of it that lead to controversy.

So let’s go ahead and speculate. There’s much we don’t know, much of which we’ll never know. Wondering about it, casting about for possible explanations or extrapolations, is good mental exercise. But there’s no reason why it can’t be a spiritual adventure as well.

“Real” scientists can be Christians. And in the literary world, there’s nothing ridiculous about sci-fi characters believing in and making reference to the scriptures.

There’s no contradiction between science and Christianity in their pure forms.

Voting is underway to determine the winner of the 2013 Clive Staples Award. We’re down to the five finalists. Here’s a thumbnail sketch of each, again going in alphabetical order according to the authors’ last names.

* Liberator by Bryan Davis

Publisher – Zondervan

Series – Dragons of Starlight, Book 4

Genre – young adult fantasy

Introduction.

For years, tales of dragons from another world kidnapping and enslaving humans have been circulating in Jason Masters’ world, while for a slave girl named Koren, the stories of a human world seem pure myth. Together, these two teens will need to bridge two planets in order to overthrow the draconic threat and bring the lost slaves home. The time has come as the long-awaited invasion of human forces looms. Jason, Koren, and Elyssa struggle to alert the soldiers to an unforeseen menace on the planet of Starlight—a deadly illness that already has Koren in its grip.

Starlighter Cassabrie harbors a secret she believes can counter the dragon king Taushin’s latest maneuverings, but she can disclose little of her risky plan. As Cassabrie fights to save her people, the dragon Magnar works to move the Starlight prophecy in his favor. His actions could make the plight of humans even more perilous. Wishing only to free the slaves and bring peace, a few young warriors are poised to face three armies as they battle for control of two worlds. Can love, faith, and courage be enough? Will Cassabrie be humanity’s last hope?

Review excerpts.

* This book captivates your attention from the beginning. I could not put it down! It is filled with action, love, sacrifice, and excitement at every turn.

* There are spiritual truths sprinkled throughout this fantasy story about heroes and villains, hope and despair, sacrifice and risk.

A Throne of Bones by Vox Day (aka Theodore Beale)

Publisher – Marcher Lord Press (Hinterlands Imprint)

Series – Arts of Dark and Light, Book 1

Genre – epic fantasy

Introduction.

In Selenoth, the race of Man is on the ascendant. The ancient dragons sleep. The ghastly Witchkings are no more; their evil power destroyed by the courage of Men and the fearsome magic of the Elves. The Dwarves have retreated to the kingdoms of the Underdeep, the trolls hide in their mountains, and even the savage orc tribes have learned to dread the iron discipline of Amorr’s mighty legions. But after four hundred years of mutual suspicion, the rivalry between two of the Houses Martial that rule the Amorran Senate threatens to turn violent, and unrest sparks rebellion throughout the imperial provinces. In the north, the barbarian reavers who have long plagued the coasts of the White Sea beg for the royal protection of the King of Savondir, as they flee a vicious race of wolf-demons. In the east, the war drums echo throughout the mountains as orcs and goblins gather in great numbers, summoned by their bestial gods.

Review excerpts.

*On a micro and macro level, the reader is surprised (not to mention shocked and stunned), narrative directions are turned 180 degrees and assumptions are ripped away. I never knew where it was heading next.

And here’s the good news: It’s a delightful experience.

* A Throne of Bones is impossible to put down, especially if you’re a guy who appreciates fairly accurate and realistic portrayals of military tactics, political intrigue, and characters trying to live according to their faith in a fallen world.

Mortal by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

Publisher – FaithWords

Series – The Books of Mortals saga, Book 2

Genre – post-apocalyptic fantasy

Introduction.

Centuries have passed since civilization’s brush with apocalypse. The world’s greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no anger, no hatred, no war. There is only perfect peace…and fear. A terrible secret was closely guarded for centuries: every single soul walking the earth, though in appearance totally normal, is actually dead, long ago genetically stripped of true humanity.

Nine years have gone by since an unlikely hero named Rom Sebastian first discovered a secret and consumed an ancient potion of blood to bring himself back to life in Forbidden. Surviving against impossible odds, Rom has gathered a secret faction of followers who have also taken the blood-the first Mortals in a world that is dead.

But The Order has raised an elite army to hunt and crush the living. Division and betrayal threaten to destroy the Mortals from within. The final surviving hope for humanity teeters on the brink of annihilation and no one knows the path to survival.

Review excerpts.

* I could not put this book down. Excellent story line, intriguing parallels with the Bible.

* “With great plot twists, compelling writing, and unanswered questions, this is a must-read for Dekker fans…”
— Library Journal

Prophet by R. J. Larson

Publisher – Bethany House Publishers

Series – Books of the Infinite, Book 1

Genre – young adult fantasy

Introduction.

Ela Roeh of Parne doesn’t understand why her beloved Creator, the Infinite, wants her to become His prophet. She’s undignified and bad-tempered, and at age seventeen she’s much too young. In addition, no prophet of Parne has ever been a girl. Worst of all, as Parne’s elders often warn, if she agrees to become the Infinite’s prophet, Ela knows she will die young.

Yet she can’t imagine living without Him. Determined to hear the Infinite’s voice, Ela accepts the sacred vinewood branch and is sent to bring the Infinite’s word to a nation torn apart by war. There she meets a young ambassador determined to bring his own justice for his oppressed people. As they form an unlikely partnership, Ela battles how to balance the leading of her heart with the leading of the Infinite.

Review excerpts.

* “This tale captured me and held me hostage to the very last page. Breathlessly waiting for the next book.”–Donita K. Paul

* Character-driven and suspenseful, this outstanding young adult speculative fiction launch does a great job of world building.” –Library Journal (starred review)

Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Publisher – Bethany House Publishers

Series – Tales of Goldstone Wood, Book 4

Genre – fairytale fantasy

Introduction.

The Black Dogs Are on the Hunt, But Who Is Their Prey?

When a cursed dragon-witch kidnaps fairest Lady Gleamdren, the Bard Eanrin sets boldly forth on a rescue mission…and a race against his rival for Gleamdren’s favor. Intent upon his quest, the last thing the immortal Faerie needs is to become mixed up with the troubles of an insignificant mortal.

But when he stumbles upon a maiden trapped in an enchanted sleep, he cannot leave her alone in the dangerous Wood Between. One waking kiss later, Eanrin suddenly finds his story entangled with that of young Starflower. A strange link exists between this mortal girl and the dragon-witch. Will Starflower prove the key to Lady Gleamdren’s rescue? Or will the dark power from which she flees destroy both her and her rescuer?

Review excerpts.

* “Fans of Tolkien and the darker talers of Faerie will be drawn into Stengl’s effusive prose and wonderfully scary worlds… a series to stretch your imagination over several long winter nights.” – USA Today

* The imagery is amazing, the setting so detailed, and the characters are a hilarious. I could barely put this book down for wanting to know what would happen next.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

We have finalists!¹

In a tight race, with only percentage points separating first through ninth place (yes, we did need to revert to the tie-breaker second- and third-place choices), the top five books are moving on to the finals.

Anyone who voted (according to the directions–we had an handful who tried to circumnavigate the rules and were disqualified) in the first round is eligible to vote. Even those who did not are still eligible if they have read at least two of the original nominations.

And now, your finalists, in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name:

Liberator by Bryan Davis

A Throne of Bones by Vox Day

Mortal by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

Prophet by R. J. Larson

Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Congratulations to each of these authors. I think it’s particularly memorable to be in a contest inspired by C. S. Lewis in 2013–the fifty-year anniversary of his graduation to the more solid world.

We still have the business of selecting a winner. As you may recall, the Realm Makers Conference for writers and fans of speculative literature is partnering with CSA and SpecFaith this year. Consequently, on August 2, the first night of the RM conference in St. Louis, SpecFaith webmaster and regular columnist E. Stephen Burnett will make the announcement of and presentations to the winner. This author will receive a commemorative plaque and a modest cash prize supplied by the sponsoring groups.

One more thing. Author Robert Treskillard has designed an e-medallion the winner may display on his or her website and which publishers may wish to turn into stickers for their books.

We’re hoping that this is only a beginning and that as we add sponsors, the cash prize and other perks will grow in years to come.

But now, on to the important business at hand. It is time to vote for a winner. Please follow these rules.

* You MUST have read at least two of the nominations.

* You may vote ONLY ONCE for a first, a second, and a third choice.

* Your second choice and your third choice may not be the same as your first choice.

* Your vote for your second choice and your third choice may not be for the same book.

* You may mark the “none of these” option if you do not have a second or a third choice.

* Second and third choice options will only be considered in the case of a tie.

* Voting ends midnight Pacific time, July 28, 2013.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Okay, so it was more like four weeks rather than two. My apologies. I didn’t look ahead enough to realize that I was scheduled to post while I was in San Antonio for the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s National Youth Gathering. 25,000 people all in one city. It was really cool and really tiring. In some ways, I’m still trying to play catch-up. But I owe all y’all a column, don’t I, so let’s review:

1) I started by complaining about Enterprise, how a potentially good series blew it by using a tired time travel trope (say that five times fast!) in Crewman Daniels to fix problems, and how that ultimately was a deus ex machina.

2) I talked about the origin of the term deus ex machina, tracing it back to ancient Greek theatre. To the Greeks, every play ended with a “god out of the machine,” an actor who came out of the rigging to set all things right at the end of the play.

So now, where am I going with this?

Truth be told, I’m still not entirely sure. But I did see it pop up again. And I suspect by criticizing it, I’ll likely get yelled at.

Just recently, I started watching Dr. Who. I’ve been vaguely aware of the conventions. I knew Daleks were bad and said “Exterminate!” a lot. I knew that the Doctor regenerated, allowing the BBC to switch out actors. That was about it. Oh, and he has a thing for traveling with young ladies. But since the show is on Netflix and I finished my Star Trek marathon, I figured it was time to get caught up. And, wouldn’t you know it, I spotted a sort of deus ex machina at the end of one episode.

Or, to put it more specifically, a Rose ex TARDIS.

For those, like me, who are not die-hard Whovians, I offer the following warning:

The episode in question is The Parting of the Ways. The resurrected Dalek empire is about to invade the Station-thingy (see, I’m not totally indoctrinated yet), and the Doctor is going to do something with delta waves to destroy pretty much everything. Before he pulls the trigger, though, he sends Rose off in the TARDIS so she will survive.

The Doctor’s back is up against the wall. The Daleks chew through the station’s defenses, kill Captain Jack Harkness, and then are going to finish off their mortal enemy, the Doctor himself. There should be no way for the Doctor to escape.

Except he does anyway, because Rose does something…well, rather odd.

After seeing a lot of graffiti that said “BAD WOLF” (a phrase that popped up a lot in Series 1), Rose somehow gets it into her head that she needs to look into the heart of the TARDIS (an action that she’s only seen once, which resulted in someone getting turned into an egg) to go back and get the Doctor. Even though she has no evidence that this will work, it does anyway, and she pops in filled with…glowy stuff (I’m still unclear on what, exactly, that was). She uses said glowy stuff to erase the Daleks from existence.

Problem solved. The Daleks are gone, Captain Jack is resurrected, and all is right with the universe.

Yes, okay, I know, not everything was all right with the universe, but I still maintain that this was a deus ex machina. Why would Rose make the connection that Bad Wolf is her? How did she think that she had to look into the heart of the TARDIS? The logical leaps were too great for me. Rose’s solution didn’t arise from the action of the story.

Now, as I wrote this, I realized that we could almost accuse the whole show of being gigantic deus ex machinas. Machinii? Whatever. Think about it: the Doctor and his companion encounter something unusual. The Doctor ponders it for a while, and then bang, he not only figures out exactly what they’re dealing with but exactly how to deal with the problem, whatever it may be. It’s almost like a little god drops out of a machine and whispers the answer in the Doctor’s ear. Every. Single. Episode.

And yet, at the same time, I would also argue that the Doctor is not a deus ex machina, simply because it’s been established that he knows so much from his many travels. He’s how old? Nine hundred some years? He’s been to every time period imaginable, saw things that would liquefy our brains, and become such a powerful figure that just the mention of his name makes the mighty Daleks back up in fear. Now, if the show was about a newbie Time Lord out for a jaunt in his brand-spanking new TARDIS, none of this would work. It only makes sense that he has such an encyclopedic knowledge of life, the universe, and everything.

Wait. Wrong fandom, sorry.

My point is this: Rose saving the Doctor in A Parting of the Ways is a deus ex machina because Rose’s actions didn’t logically arise from within the story. But it’s not a deus ex machina when the Doctor comes up with crazy schemes precisely because it does arise from within his character. It’s part of the rules. He just naturally understands all of this…how does the phrase go? “Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey” stuff?

In other words, a deus ex machina is only a deus ex machina if the solution is a complete break with the established rules of the story.

Hey, this actually brings me to my point…which I’ll talk about in two weeks.

I promise.

A handful of reporters discovered it. The literary world had been buffaloed. Readers and industry insiders alike had the wool pulled over their eyes. They’d been flimflammed. OK, it wasn’t quite that bad, but still, perhaps the most famed author of our day pulled a fast one.

Jo Rowling, better known as the author of the Harry Potter books, published a crime novel and kept it a secret. She successfully pulled this trick off with the help of her agent and publisher, putting out The Cuckoo’s Calling under a male pseudonym and claiming the work was from a debut author.

Critics raved about the novel. Reviewers praised it. For two full months, the public was fooled, but recently reporters at the Sunday Times began to put the dots together.

This “new” author had the same agent as J. K. Rowling; the same publisher who published Rowling’s previous books also published this stunning mystery; the author didn’t hide the fact that “Robert Galbraith” was a pen name; “his” bio said he’d gone from a career in the military to one in the “civilian security industry”–so when did “he” learn to write like a professional novelist?

But the clincher. The style and subject matter were reminiscent of Rowling’s other work.

All this is interesting to me as a writer, but the point that made the story compelling is that Rowling said she loved writing as Galbraith because it was a “liberating experience.” She didn’t have the expectations of a waiting public. She was free from midnight-book-release hype. She could write and sit back to see what the honest response to her work would be–not the response to writing royalty, but to this particular story.

Undoubtedly she wasn’t disappointed. Here’s a sampling of the sixty-six Amazon reviews (36 five star, 17 four star, 8 three star, 0 two star, 5 one star–all posted after the revelation that Rowling was the author):

It’s hard to put your finger on exactly what it is that makes The Cuckoo’s Calling such a terrific new Private Investigator crime fiction debut. On the surface it seems straightforward, unexceptional and unambitious, everything fits the established conventions, there’s nothing immediately new that stands out, and yet it’s an utterly compelling read with strong characters that wraps you up completely and thrillingly into the investigation.

I’ll admit, I was disappointed that Rowling wasn’t writing more fantasy. Apparently she intends to stick with this new crime fiction series for a while.

But I keep coming back to her saying that writing without expectations was freeing. I’ve heard somewhat the opposite from writer friends. If their first book is successful, now they feel the pressure to come up with something as good or better for their second book–and to do it in half the time.

Rowling mentioned the hype, too. At the end of the Harry Potter series, it seemed as if all eyes were on her as the release date of the next book approached. And what if it failed?

Most readers don’t think about that question. So many people were fans, they weren’t thinking particularly critically toward the end. They just wanted to know how things were going to turn out for the characters in whose lives they’d become invested. Could the Harry Potter books have failed in the end? I doubt if they could have in an ultimate sense.

The Hunger Games, for instance, had many readers disgruntled in the end, but no one is saying the series failed.

And still, writers live on the edge of expectation. Unpublished authors live with the expectation of editors for crisp writing, fresh stories, yet ones that aren’t so far “out there” that readers will not want to go on the reading journey with them. The expectation is that writers will find that razor thin balance between the comfortably familiar and the inventively original.

Published authors, as I noted earlier, have the expectations of success. Will readers keep on liking the books? Will publishers keep on contracting them? Will they “break out”? If one breaks out, will the next one? The merry-go-round continues.

Rowling essentially chose to dial it back, to experience the expectation of . . . no one. She didn’t have to win over an acquisitions editor as a new author would. Under her pen name she didn’t have to live up to her own reputation. She could write for the fun of writing a story she wanted to tell. In other words, the pressure was off.

We call someone like J. K. Rowling “self-motivated.” After all, as far as making money is concerned, she doesn’t need to write another day in her life. But she wants to. Without pressure. She generates enough pressure herself, I imagine.

Pressure’s not a bad thing, I don’t think. But pressure to perform can show all of us, in whatever field we work, who we are and who we worship.

Who we are. The best way I can explain this is by offering myself as an illustration. I have come to realize several things about how I react to pressure to perform. First, I am a perfectionist, but that also makes me a procrastinator. If I “don’t have time” to do a job as perfectly as I think it needs to be done, then I have no choice but to accept any less-than-best effort. In other words, I use my procrastination to fend off my perfectionism.

Second, if my back is to the wall and I must perform, I turn into a bulldozer. It doesn’t really matter whose feelings I hurt or who I slight or ignore. They have to understand, after all, that I’m under deadline. This work HAS to get done. Outta my way!

Neither of those two is attractive or godly. But I wouldn’t know those things about myself–and therefore my need to bring them under the control of the Holy Spirit–if it weren’t for the times I’m under pressure.

Who we worship. If I care more for how I will look in public than how God views me, I’m making public opinion my idol. Or my sense of accomplishment. Or my perfectionism. And if I avoid pressure, I may be making my ease and comfort my idol.

The bottom line, as I see it, is this. Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. If I work for Him, put myself under His expectations, that’s actually the least pressure I can face. Plus, He’s promised to fill me with His strength when I am weak. That’s about as pressure free as I can imagine, although it has nothing to do with me trying to wiggle out from under it.

Just the opposite. I’m accepting my responsibility as God’s child to

walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. (Col 1:10-12)