Barnabas Piper tells us to stop writing about writing, because we don’t really have anything to say.
“When Stephen King writes a book about writing I read it cover to cover and then start over. And it is marvelous. When a thirty-something, barely published, Internet composer of public journal entries does so, it’s uppity.”
Yeah. Sorry about that.
Matthew Vines is not a new author. He has been around for a few years, arguing that Christianity and homosexuality are not incompatible. He has a new book coming out next week making the same arguments, but the bigger news may be who is publishing it. It’s Stephen W. Cobb, the chief executive of both WaterBrook Multnomah and the new imprint Convergent.
Cobb says the two imprints do not have the same audiences and editorial guidelines, so they aren’t the identical, but he does call the final shots for both. With Convergent, those shots are “nonfiction for less traditional Christians and spiritual seekers who are drawn to an open, inclusive, and culturally engaged exploration of faith,” such as Matthew Vines’ new book, God and the Gay Christian.
World Magazine makes a big deal about these imprints being unified under one corporate umbrella, but what strikes me as odd is Cobb’s insistence that he isn’t publishing heresy under the Convergent label. He claims Vines’ “believes in the inerrancy and the divinity and the correctness of Scripture,” so his book is “biblically based.” He says he intends to publish only biblically based books through Convergent.
How orthodox does a “biblically based” book need to be in order to remain based on the Bible? The Book of Mormon and the Koran are literally based on the Bible, but would we call them “biblically based”? If this is the main criteria, then I would understand a wide variety of views being published, but we expect more, don’t we?
How much orthodox stock do you put into this publisher or any publisher? Do you notice the publisher of a book and believe the topic, whatever it is, has been thoroughly vetted? Do you believe WaterBrook is still committed to “creating products that both intensify and satisfy the elemental thirst for a deeper relationship with God,” as their marketing people say?
Vincent Zandri is producing a series of novels about Albany, NY private eye Dick Moonlight (I’m not kidding. That’s his name). Murder by Moonlight was the first I’ve read, and although I read it through and enjoyed it a fair amount, I find I didn’t really like it much.
Dick Moonlight is a private eye with a difference (aren’t they all nowadays?). He attempted suicide a couple years back, leaving himself with a .22 bullet in his brain which the doctors can’t remove. At any moment it might shift and kill him, so he lives with that.
In Murder by Moonlight, he is hired by Joan Parker, who was horribly injured in an ax attack in her home, one which killed her husband. At the time she told the police that her son Christopher was to blame, but now she’s changed her mind and wants Moonlight to prove the young man innocent.
A number of things irritated me in this book. One is the present-tense narration, which doesn’t actually spoil the story, but which I find an irritating affectation that adds nothing.
Secondly, the story wanders into the realm of ancient conspiracies, which I don’t believe in. People aren’t that good at keeping secrets, especially in large groups.
But most importantly, the hero/narrator, Dick Moonlight, got on my nerves. Many people in the story tell him he’s a jerk (they generally use more colorful language), and they’re right. He claims he has a built-in lie detector (again, he uses an earthier term), and feels that gives him the right to be insulting to anyone he doesn’t like on first sight — even when he needs a favor from them. That’s just bad detective procedure. What he is, is judgmental and tactless.
So though the story kept my interest (in spite of some weak writing moments and needless complications at the end), I don’t recommend it highly. On the other hand, it’ll keep your interest on a plane, if that’s what your needs are.
Cautions for language and adult themes.
Here we have the St. Olaf Choir with Conductor Anton Armstrong performing “Even When He Is Silent” by Kim André Arnesen. It was recorded at Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim, Norway on June 16, 2013
The piece was commissioned by the St. Olaf Festival in Trondheim, Norway (Olavsfestdagene), using a text was found in a concentration camp after World War II:
“I believe in the sun, even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love, even when I feel it not.
I believe in God, even when He is silent.”
But, Lord, do not be silent or allow us to be deaf.
“Hype is an overrated and overused tool, but the power of compelling narrative endures, hence the sprouting of new Swedish literary agencies with names like Partners in Stories and Storytellers. They have an eye to lucrative film rights, of course, but few would deny the seductiveness of a good plot.”
The Swedish Book Review is out with several takes on books you may want to watch for. (via The Literary Saloon, the place to go for translated fiction.)
Pilgrim’s Hymn by Stephen Paulus
Even before we call on Your name
To ask You, O God,
When we seek for the words to glorify You,
You hear our prayer;
Unceasing love, O unceasing love,
Surpassing all we know.
Glory to the father,
and to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit.
Even with darkness sealing us in,
We breathe Your name,
And through all the days that follow so fast,
We trust in You;
Endless Your grace, O endless Your grace,
Beyond all mortal dream.
Both now and forever,
And unto ages and ages,
Amen
April is poetry month, as I said before, and I learned late that the poet Aaron Belz was in my home town April 4. Here’s a video of his poetry reading in St. Elmo. Many of these poems are quite funny and contemporary. He even reads a poem he wrote the day before, which he slightly apologizes for. Belz got his undergrad at Covenant College, which is the Presbyterian (PCA) liberal arts college next to Chattanooga. He went on to get his Ph.D. at Saint Louis University and published several poems in several places. He pulls from common literary knowledge and daily life. His most recent book is Glitter Bomb: Poems
Like I said, he’s funny. One of the poems read in the video goes:
“There is no I in team,
but there’s one in bitterness,
one in failure.”
He also offers a few remarkable palindromes at 13:40. Enjoy.
Do you remember the good ol’ days when we posted a video of live steel combat every Friday? I’m pretty sure we shared this first one back then. It’s two years old from the Høstfest. Lars quickly dispatches Philip Patton, who looks as if he can’t fight in this video:
Philip shows he can fight here:
The woman over whom they are fighting (not really) is Kelsey, who has a Høstfest video of her own from this year’s festival. Have you browsed her store? She has some great clothing there among other good things.
Author Robin O’Bryant writes, “I self-published my first book in shame. I was disappointed that after two years of work with my top tier literary agent in New York, editors still didn’t think I had a platform large enough to sell a book.”
That book lived for about two years before hitting multiple bestseller lists, due in part to her tireless promotion. Now, Ketchup is a Vegetable and Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves, is re-released, and Mrs. O’Bryant has a two-book deal with St. Martin’s Press.
In his new book, Creativity, Inc., Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar, talks about how to keep a creative team running. He says he noticed many creative companies, even Disney, dying off a bit at some point. They couldn’t keep their creativity going. Catmull wanted to know the reason and whether it could be avoided. Now, with co-writer Amy Wallace, he has given us his conclusions.
“If you’re doing something new, you will make mistakes,” he says. “In fact, if you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably just copying other things. The way you avoid mistakes is to be super safe. Well, we can’t be safe. That means somebody will make mistakes, and we have to say let’s learn from it.”
He says he learned from Disney the technique of putting your storyboard on video to see it works the way you think it will. And it never does at first. In fact, the original storyboarded video isn’t good at all, but artists and writers lose their objectivity at that point and fail to see the problems. Catmull tries to work through the problems with an atmosphere that builds everyone up and allows them to take risks in pursuit of a stronger story.
You can read an excerpt from Catmull and Wallace’s book through NoiseTrade and your eReader before you buy.