If Necessary, Use a Real Quote
Glenn Stanton writes about a popular quotation that isn’t something he actually said: FactChecker: Misquoting Francis of Assisi. Francis preached the gospel with words often, but he did emphasize the need for personal devotion before preaching, so that his true passion for the Lord will pour forth in his public speech and actions.
Netflix review: Luther
It is a fact generally acknowledged, that the English do cerebral television better than the Americans, and Americans do action better than the English. But the two things aren’t necessarily mutually contradictory, as you may see by watching the BBC series Luther, available now on Netflix. It was first recommended to me by Gene Edward Veith at his Cranach blog. You can read his thoughtful review here.
I’m not sure about all the theological conclusions Dr. Veith draws—it seems to me that biblical and Christian references are bound to show up in any literate script, even in our day. But I entirely agree on the narrative power of this superlative cop series. Continue reading Netflix review: Luther
Batman, the Sacrificial Hero
Kevin Marks writes about the struggles in The Dark Knight and No Country for Old Men on Reel Spirituality: “Batman, a creature of the night anyway, becomes now ‘the dark knight,’ assuming the blame for the evil unleashed upon Gotham by The Joker, in order that faith be restored in a criminal justice system, and the fear that grips those who walk home in the dark can at least be alleviated by knowing that the police are back in power, and are now chasing the bizarro Batman/savior figure for his crime of turning against those he had sworn to protect.”
Heroic sacrifice is an epic theme. It was touched on in the Spiderman movies, though not hammered like the responsibility angle. It’s what Saving Private Ryan tried to tell us. Perhaps we’ll see the theme carry the story in the next Batman movie.
Where’s My Son? by John C. Dalglish
Where’s My Son? by John C. Dalglish is a police procedural with a terrific premise. It also has the virtue of being (judging from a few hints in the text) a Christian novel that doesn’t preach. Unfortunately, it also exhibits a number of first novel weaknesses. I think the author may be capable of much better stuff.
The story starts well (from one perspective), balancing three horrifying plot strands. An amoral operation in false adoptions retains a felon to find and steal a baby for them. A childless couple suffers the heartbreak of multiple miscarriages. And a pair of loving new parents do not know they are being watched, and their lives are about to be torn apart.
It’s only once the kidnapping has been committed that the book’s hero is actually introduced (this, by the way, is in most cases a mistake. Authors are usually well advised to bring the main character in as early as possible). Here the hero is Detective Jason Strong who, sadly, does not live up to his surname. He’s hard-working and compassionate, but he comes off pretty stiff. No back story, no private life. Some readers don’t care about such matters in a good puzzle mystery, but this isn’t a puzzle mystery. It’s a police procedural in which we know whodunit before the detective does. Another problem is that Detective Strong doesn’t actually do much detecting. He follows leads, but his big breaks come from luck. That may be true to life, but it weakens a novel. The fact that he prays for guidance at one point is what tipped me off that this is a book by a Christian.
There are also a number of stylistic problems. At one point, two characters meet and just waste time:
“Hi, Wade. How ya doing?”
“Good, you?”
They shook hands.
Tip for authors: Unless some major clue is going to be dropped in the course of two characters greeting each other, just say, “They said hello and shook hands,” or something like that. Or skip the greeting altogether. The reader will know they went through the pleasantries. It just slows your story down.
At another point, a character is thinking about his wife, and in the next paragraph we’re told the same character “let his mind wander” to her. It doesn’t need to wander that way if he’s already thinking of her.
Most disappointing is the ending. Sudden and spare, it reads more like a synopsis point than a fiction passage. This relates to the weakness of Det. Strong’s character. If he had a life and friends, he’d have someone to bounce his decision off, and the scene would have a lot more resonance.
All in all, a good try. I wish the author the best as he improves his craft. Caution for a few passages of strong language.
As the Crow Dies, by Ken Casper
I found Ken Casper’s As the Crow Dies a competent mystery. I neither loved it nor disliked it. I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t like it more than I did. The characters are well drawn, the prose professional (always a pleasure, that), and the mystery puzzling (though I did guess the murderer before the end).
Jason Crow, son of a successful local restaurant owner, comes home to his West Texas town in 1968, a double amputee from wounds received in the Vietnam War. Once an NFL hopeful, he’s self-conscious about his disability, and insecure about his future with his girlfriend, Michiko.
His reunion with his wise, supportive father, to which he’s looked forward greatly, is not to be. He comes home to find police cars in the driveway, and he’s told his father has shot himself in his office—with Jason’s own gun.
Jason cannot believe his father would ever do such an insensitive thing. So, relying on his army buddy Zach, who has become a sort of personal attendant, he sets about discovering who among their friends and relations hated his father—and him—enough to commit murder in this way.
There are lots of leads, pointing in various directions. There’s enough infidelity, old hate, and bigotry in the town to provide a snake’s nest of motives. The depiction of Jason’s growing maturity as he learns to live a new kind of life is one of the book’s strengths.
I think my main problem with As the Crow Dies was that something I usually like in a story—lots of well-drawn, well-rounded characters—in this case produces soap opera moments from time to time. I was worried about anti-Christianity, but although a cultish “church” does provide some suspects, that church is so unorthodox that it doesn’t really come close to home.
You may like it more than I did. I don’t disrecommend it. Cautions for language and adult situations. As is so common nowadays, premarital sex is generally taken for granted.
The Internet Will Drop for Some on Monday
The FBI busted some bad guys a while back after they took over 4,000,000 computers with malware that redirected their Internet pointers. Get the gory details here. (via Dave Lull)
Great Scott
Fort Snelling in 1844. Today the trees are so thick and high all around that you can’t see the river from the fort.
On Independence Day I took an out of town visitor to see Historic Fort Snelling, our major local historical site, which has been reconstructed to appear as it did around 1820, and is staffed by costumed interpreters. I’m glad I did, because I came up with a couple article ideas which I don’t intend to squander on you lot of freeloaders, but to sell to The American Spectator Online (or so I hope).
The temperature was officially 101º, which gave us a vivid lesson in life before air conditioning (consumer report—it was bloody uncomfortable). But at least I wasn’t marching around in a wool uniform like the support staff. (We Vikings generally wear linen tunics in the summer, even though they’re not strictly vouched for by archaeology. Those authenticity officers know there’s a point beyond which you can’t push a guy with an axe.)
The main problem with Fort Snelling is that it’s not all that memorable, in historical terms. Nothing big really ever happened there. Graf von Zeppelin spent some time there as an observer, before going home to invent the dirigible. General Custer cooled his heels there for a while in temporary disgrace, before being called back west for his Date with Destiny.
Dred Scott. Continue reading Great Scott
On Ray Bradbury
Stephen Andrew Hiltner, a fact-checker for The Paris Review, talks about working on the journal’s interview of Ray Bradbury. “[W]hat I found in the interview were things that had escaped me for much of my undergraduate and graduate years—years spent earning a supposedly literary education. He promotes friendship, love, self-discovery, the daily intake of poetry. He instructs us to read from every kind of literature we feel drawn to…. He talks about the ‘fiction of ideas’…” And there’s a story about the author’s life-long inspiration which cannot be verified and yet must be true.
Stamina, Willpower
Novelist Haruki Murakami writes, “Most of what I know about writing I’ve learned through running every day.” He says it’s important to push yourself to create your vision and to train yourself to push.