On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness



The subtitle of Andrew Peterson’s fantastically fun young adult novel just about gives you all the invitation you need to read it: “Adventure, Peril, Lost Jewels, And the Fearsome Toothy Cows of Skree.” You can see the thrills and silliness right there (if you’re stuck on what toothy cows are, stick no further).

I loved this book, despite its minor weaknesses which are minor. Peterson says he knew while writing this book that his sequel would be even better, and I fully believe him. This story of children running from goblin-like occupiers of their home country has plenty of serious thrills, and it’s built on a mythology that is completely silly. For example, the horrible conqueror in a distant land who ultimately commands all of the disgusting troops in Skree is “a nameless evil” called Gnag the Nameless. His evil minions are the Fangs of Dang, in that they have poisonous teeth and hail from the dark land of Dang. A popular sport described early in the book is handyball, “a delightful sport in which each team tries to get the ball into a goal without using their feet in any capacity, even to move,” meaning the players roll on the ground. That detail is delivered in one of many footnotes which sow threads of silliness through the pages. Many of the footnotes reference one of 24 imaginary books, like In the Age of the Kindly Flabbits by Jonathid Choonch Brownman, Taming the Creepful Wood by Rumpole Bloge, and Ready, Set, Chube! A Life in Gamery by B’funerous Hwerq.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness records the story of the three Igiby children who are waking up to the oppression around them. They’ve never known life without the Fangs of Dang. One night, their dog gets them into a little trouble that quickly escalates into a life-and-death struggle. Soon enough, the whole family is running for their lives.

This is the first book in a series of at least three. The third Wingfeather Saga book was released this summer.

Update: Never Mind! Book recommendation: The Last of the Vikings, by "John Bowling"

Update: Save your money.

This should teach me to make assumptions. I took it for granted that this Kindle book was the English translation of Johan Bojer’s Den Siste Viking. It is not. It’s a book about Vikings, identically named, by an English-language writer with a similar name, and doesn’t look to be a very good one. Sorry.

Today I discovered a book, available in the Kindle format, which I want to recommend to those of you who have that technology.

It’s called The Last of the Vikings, and it’s only 99 cents.

And no, it’s not actually about Vikings.

It’s a Norwegian novel (I’ve read it in the original, Den Siste Viking) by a writer named Johan Bojer. The English translation gives the author as John Bowling, which must have been the result of a decision by a publisher afraid that Americans wouldn’t buy a book by somebody whose name they couldn’t pronounce (it’s pronounced BOY-er). Continue reading Update: Never Mind! Book recommendation: The Last of the Vikings, by "John Bowling"

DK and GK

Late to the computer tonight. I had to pick up some family members at the airport. They’re just back from a trip to Germany and Denmark. In Denmark they were able to meet and get to know our distant relatives, in Jutland.

Needless to say, I am filled with impotent rage and envy that I couldn’t go along. However they bought me dinner, so I chose not to steer the car into an abutment, sending us all to a fiery but magnificent demise.

Over at The Corner, Michael Potemra writes of “The Inexhaustible Chesterton:”

One of the things I have come to like most about Chesterton is that he is one of the few writers whose books you can open virtually at random, and have a good chance of finding a breathtaking insight.

Film review: Cowboys and Aliens

OK, here’s the deal. When you’re talking about a movie called “Cowboys and Aliens,” you’ll do well not to overthink it.

I’m glad I hadn’t read some of the reviews I’ve read today, before I went to see the film last night. Because I had a great time. I don’t think I’ve sat in a theater seat and enjoyed myself so much since I saw “Taken.” When you’re talking summer movies, it doesn’t get much better than this, if you’re asking me.

The secret to carrying off a ridiculous genre mash-up like this, unless your intention is to do farce, is to take it as seriously as “High Noon.” No ironic, I’m-above-the-material lines from the actors. No winks at the audience. No blatant contemporary references, either pop or political.

In this the makers of “Cowboys and Aliens” succeeded splendidly. There are funny moments, but the actors don’t know they’re funny. All they know is that they’re being attacked by nearly invulnerable monsters, that their loved ones are missing, and that time is running out.

The film opens with the hero, Jake Lonergan (underplayed in Eastwoodesque style by Daniel Craig), waking up in the desert. He can’t remember who he is, he has a painful wound just under the ribs, and a strange metal shackle is wrapped around his wrist. Continue reading Film review: Cowboys and Aliens

Christian Smith's Straw Men

Professor at the University of Notre Dame Christian Smith has written a book criticizing an evangelical view of the Bible. The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture complains that many American Christians have what he calls a “biblicist” point of view, meaning essentially the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, understandable by any intelligent reader, and universally applicable to all. (The list is longer than this, but I think it boils down to these main points.)

Kevin DeYoung reviews The Bible Made Impossible:

For starters, the book is littered with straw men. Smith frequently attacks ideas that none of the mainstream institutions, documents, or persons he criticizes holds. He opposes mechanical dictation theory, admitting that “most” thoughtful evangelicals do not hold to it (81). I can’t help but wonder which thoughtful evangelicals do? He chides biblicists for things I’ve never seen anyone do, like worshiping the Bible (124) and thinking that fellowship with God comes through paper and ink (119)…. Likewise, he mocks the logic of biblicism for being equally certain about the divinity of Jesus as it is about the ethics of biblical dating (137). But who actually espouses any of this? These are simply cheap shots…. He frequently attacks the notion that the Bible is completely clear, but then in the end he says the Bible is perfectly clear when it comes to the important stuff of the gospel (132).

Having not read this book, I’m sure Prof. Smith makes some good points in it, but it appears from DeYoung’s review that he loses those points in the middle of a lot of partisan propaganda, by which I mean he is defending his team against other teams with whom he agrees essentially. Read all of DeYoung’s review, and you’ll see what I mean.

The Steel Bonnets, by George MacDonald Fraser


There is said to have been a tradition among the Borderers that when a male child was christened his right hand should be excluded from the ceremony, so that in time of feud he would be better equipped to strike “unhallowed” blows upon his family’s enemies.

At the end of the 2001 Common Reader edition of George MacDonald Fraser’s 1971 book The Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers, an interview with the author is inserted. There, in response to a question as to whether he plans to write more straight history books, Fraser (most famous for his Flashman series of serio-comic romances) replies that “he found he could get closer to the truth of the past in fiction.”

I think his instincts were good. Although The Steel Bonnets seems to me (a fairly uninformed reader in that area of history) a masterful work on a challenging subject, I also found it hard to follow, and wished it no longer than it was. If I had Scottish roots I might feel differently. A lot of people, I’m told, are very keen on this book, which is not surprising when you note how many of the names that show up again and again in the accounts of the Border feuds are familiar today—especially in America. At the beginning of the book, Fraser muses on Richard Nixon’s inauguration ceremony, in which you found a Johnstone (Lyndon Baines Johnson), a Graham (Billy) and a Nixon together on the platform. Nor does he fail to note that the first man on the moon was an Armstrong, a scion of perhaps the greatest Reiver family of them all. Continue reading The Steel Bonnets, by George MacDonald Fraser

"Productivity is Overrated"

Michael Hyatt, publisher, blogger–no doubt a very decent person–says bloggers shouldn’t worry about being productive, because it’s overrated. Effective writing is much better, and even if it takes a while, it’s worth more to your audience than frequent, quickly written posts.

“This applies to every aspect of your online presence,” he explains. “For example, it is often tempting to tweet snippets of your life’s happenings, but the result of these outbursts is an undermining of your relevance; followers grow less likely to pay attention to your next tweet, which might be great content.” (HT Jane Friedman)

Film review: Max Manus, Man Of War

It was pure coincidence that Max Manus: Man Of War came up in my Netflix queue just a few days after the bloodbath in Norway, whose perpetrator, Anders Barfing Breivik, named its main character as one of his heroes. That fact, needless to say, is entirely irrelevant. Max Manus did indeed blow things up, and performed some assassinations (something not touched on in the movie), but he never murdered the children of collaborators.

Max Manus (English title Max Manus: Man Of War) is a 2008 film dramatization of the wartime adventures of a Norwegian Resistance hero. I appreciated it as a refreshingly traditional war movie. Some European critics complained that it was too black and white. I don’t really imagine they wanted the Nazis treated more positively. I expect what they wanted was for the film makers to say that the Resistance was just as bad. Me, I say good for the film makers.

The movie (subtitled in English) opens with brief footage of Max fighting in Finland in 1940, where he has volunteered to help fight the Russian invasion. Then he’s back in Oslo, a newly occupied city. He and his friends want to fight the Nazis, but all they can think of to do is start an underground newspaper, which frustrates the action-oriented Max. Continue reading Film review: Max Manus, Man Of War

Shortest Winner of Bulwer-Lytton Contest

This year’s winner of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for Bad Writing is the shortest entry to win in 30 years. Here are the 26 winning words Suzanne Fondrie submitted for this profound, profound honor:

Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories.

Also of note, this year’s runner-up is a local man, Rodney Reed of Ooltewah, Tennessee. See what he wrote here. (via Books, Inq.)