Category Archives: Blogs, Socials

Blogs, Socials, Fiction, Reviews

Erling’s Word reviewed

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It isn’t often I see a review of Erling’s Word anymore. But one was posted the other day by Pastor John Barach of Sulphur, Louisiana.

Perhaps it doesn’t surprise us that Vikings became Christians, but surely it ought to. Or perhaps we’ve never thought about what that transformation must have involved, not only personally but also socially and politically. Lars Walker has. What he describes ought to remind us that history, including the history of the church, is often very messy. But at the same time, the messiness doesn’t mean that Christ wasn’t at work or that the people involved in that messiness were not, in their own flawed way, striving to be faithful to him.

Thanks, Pastor Barach.

I probably ought to mention that if you haven’t read Erling’s Word, you shouldn’t buy it. Buy The Year of the Warrior instead, since it contains EW in its entirety, plus the sequel, The Ghost of the God Tree.

Oh yes, buy Troll Valley too.

Authors, Blogs, Socials, Reading

Reading Flannery

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Biographer Jonathan Rogers is hosting discussion on stories by Flannery O’Connor all summer. See the reading list here. The first story is up this week, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”

Blogs, Socials

Gleanings

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There are a few things I’ve been meaning to mention lately, and hadn’t gotten around to, largely because of my Missouri trip.

The day I left, The American Spectator published Smoker’s Pride, a little parable I wrote. The comments were amusing, but troubling. It appears that a large percentage of the readers couldn’t take the story beyond its literal meaning. Hint: It’s not actually about smoking.

Bryan Preston at The PJ Tatler gave Troll Valley a nice plug in a post on What’s On My Kindle App.

And finally, one more memory from Ravensborg. One of the meats featured at this year’s Viking feast (though no real Viking ever ate it) was raccoon. And yes, I ate some. Fatty and stringy, in my opinion. Many said it tasted like beef, but I thought it was more like pork, with high notes of… yes, chicken.

Hey, if you were surrounded by Vikings and somebody asked you if you wanted to try raccoon meat, would you wimp out?

Blogs, Socials, Fiction, Publishing, Religion, Reviews

Writing related post

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Yesterday was a big day for me, because I got my first royalty check from Amazon for the earnings on Troll Valley. Actually, it was the first time I’ve ever gotten a royalty check (I’ve had publisher advances, but no actual royalties). On careful consideration, I have decided that this is a good thing, and needs to be pushed along. So if you haven’t bought your copy yet, for Kindle or Nook, I can give you a tip that the crowds have thinned out and there’s no waiting.

As an added attraction, The American Spectator posted my cranky review of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest today.

Finally, an outstanding post from Andrew Klavan Himself, on Palm Sunday and the Trayvon Martin case.

Because he puts the Truth before God, his fellow man, justice and morality, Everett is the last man standing in defense of all of them. That’s because Truth is the cornerstone on which every good structure stands. Without a commitment to Truth, our religions, brotherly love, justice and morality topple into meaningless ruins. Even when it’s carried by an imperfect vessel, the Truth and only the Truth can set us free for every other good thing.

You see why I boost Klavan so much? He gets it. Even before he was a Christian, he got this central point, which a lot of people just can’t seem to understand in this crooked generation.

Blogs, Socials

“If this is war…”

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Author Sarah Hoyt, who was kind enough to let me post on her blog not long ago, hit one out of the park yesterday, with an outstanding post entitled “War is Hell,” which addresses the currently popular accusation that conservatives are waging war on women.

War is where the enemy decimates your numbers – like, say in China where abortion is killing mostly females.

War is where you are kept from learning – like in most Arab countries, where women have restrictions placed on their education.

War is where your houses are burned, your children taken away into slavery, your goods looted, and you are dragged away in chains.

In the United States, right now, women have preferential treatment – by law – in any company that gets federal funds (which heaven help us, right now, is most of them.) Women live longer than men. Cancers that affect females get more money and more attention than those that affect only men. Women have the right to be sole deciders on abortion, and if they decide to keep the child and make the man pay, he pays. (This by the way is a complete reversal of the “penalty” of sex which used to fall mostly on women.) And if he doesn’t pay, he goes to jail. Divorce courts award custody to mothers overwhelmingly. Oh, and in college campuses, women outnumber men.

If this is war it is war on men. And I’ve had just about enough of everyone who claims otherwise.

Read the whole thing.

Blogs, Socials, Reviews

Link sausage, March 12, 2012

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It’s suddenly spring in Minnesota. Today was cloudy and drizzly, but it was up in the 60s, I think, and the only snow left on my property is a couple tiny icebergs in the northeast shadow of my house. They’re talking temperatures up to 70 later in the week.

I predict more snow, though. This is March. March is not to be trusted. Even April is best handled with one hand on your wallet.

Kevin Holstberry at Collected Miscellany reviews Troll Valley. Thanks, Kevin.

I received a beautiful (considering the subject matter) pencil drawing of me in Viking garb in the mail Saturday. It was from artist Emily Chesley, who’s the daughter of old friends. I’ll scan it to show you, eventually, but my scanner’s down at the moment.

Also on Saturday, I did some heavy-duty proofreading on Hailstone Mountain. This is, by the way, the longest book I’ve ever written, so it will be a while before you have the pleasure of downloading it.

On Sunday I went over to a Viking friend’s house, and helped him upgrade his fighting helmet with a reinforced nasal. Came out nice, too. Rather gratifying.

Blogs, Socials, Reviews

Twice the critical goodness!

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Today we have two blog reviews of Troll Valley.

First, from Will Duquette at The View From the Foothills:

They always tell aspiring writers that they should write what they know. As commonly understood, I think this is hogwash—a writer needs to be able to go beyond his personal experience to date. But there’s no denying that when it’s done well, the personal touch can bring an immediacy and a concreteness to a work. And that’s precisely what Lars has done here.

Then, from Loren Eaton, at I Saw Lightning Fall:

For the record, I hold little in common with the characters of Troll Valley. I’m not of Norwegian descent, I’m not Lutheran, and the closest I’ve come to even setting foot in Minnesota is a trip to friend’s wedding in Wisconsin. But I still found them engaging. Walker understands that literature is supposed about the stuff of universal human experience, and he uses his characters’ specific situations to touch on it. Alienation and belonging, love and lust, faith and doubt — all make appearances.

Thanks to both.