What thinking is not. John Piper has written about thinking in a new book. “Knowledge,” he says, “is the fuel of the fire of love for God and man.”
Secularism Is Not the Neutral Ground It Claims To Be
Video of Hunter Baker on “The System Has a Soul: Lectures on Christianity and Secularism”
Are Paperback Original Lesser Works than Hardbacks?
Joanne Kaufman writes about paperbacks for the Wall Street Journal, saying many people prefer hardbacks.
The belief that a paperback original, however worthy, will be given short shrift by reviewers tells part of the story. “Critics pay more attention to hardcovers even if they say they don’t,” said one agent who requested anonymity.
Vanity plays a role, an anonymous publisher tells Ms. Kaufman. “In almost every deal I do, the agent tries to get a contractual hardcover commitment even if the book isn’t written yet and down the road it might become clear that paperback original is the way to go.”
The Sagas of Heidrek, and of Lars the Far-Travelled
Dale Nelson passes on this link to the blog Sacnoth’s Scriptorium, passing on information about the upcoming re-release of Christopher Tolkien’s translation of The Saga of King Heidrek the Wise.
I’m particularly happy about this since HEIDREK’s is my favorite saga, and the first one I read (back when I had to get special dispensation from the college library to check out books there, since I was still in high school). Though it came as a bit of a shock to discover that Heidrek himself was the ‘hero’ of the saga only in the sense of protagonist: a kin-slayer and wife-murderer and generally dangerous and disagreeable person to be around. The most striking character for me was (and is) not Heidrek but his mother, Hervor*, who summons her own dead father from the grave to demand the family heirloom, the cursed sword Tyrfing (made by Durin & Dvalin), which had been buried with him. This scene was one of the first bits of Old Norse lore to be translated into English** at the beginning of the revival of interest in old legends and mythologies and literatures in the mid-18th century. Tolkien fans will probably be more focused on the Riddle-game, which was surely one of Tolkien’s main sources for Gollum’s riddle-game (along with two lays in the ELDER EDDA): one of Gollum’s riddles (“no-legs”) actually appears in one of the HEIDREK manuscripts. There’s also the famous battle between the Goths and the Huns that ends the saga, although this occurs after Heidrek’s day and in fact is set in motion by his children.
In personal news, blogging will be light next week, as I’ll be heading out Monday for my annual migration to Minot, North Dakota for the Norsk Hostfest. I hope to keep you posted to some degree, as I’ll be taking my laptop and they do have WiFi, which sometimes works.
Back next Monday, but I make no promises about posting that day.
Friday Fight: Are They Dancing?
In honor of the cool videos we used to post here on Fridays, labeling them The Friday Fight, I give you this dance scene.
The Versatile Blogger Award
Our friend Meg Moseley has tagged us over at her blog with the coveted Versatile Blogger Award. A Major Award of this caliber does not come without a price. Here’s what we’ve been asked to do:
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Pass on the award to up to fifteen deserving bloggers.
4. Contact the bloggers you chose for the award.
1. Thank you, Meg.
2. Are there seven things about myself I haven’t told you yet? Is there anything left unrevealed that won’t revolt the public and drive what’s left of our readers away? I can but try.
2.1 I weighed 5 lbs., 6 oz. at birth. I was underweight. In the time since then I have remedied that defect in rather magnificent fashion.
2.2 Technically, by the rules of primogeniture, I am the patriarch of my family, oldest son of the oldest reproducing son in the blood line (assuming you disqualify adoptees). This applies only to the Kenyon branch of the Walkers. My relatives Steven and John Book, who read this blog, come from a different branch, and so miss out on the benefits of my benevolent overlordship.
2.3 I do not care for bacon. Or much of anything smoked, really.
2.4 The first book I ever took out of a library was about early American explorers. I think it was called Explorers All, but I may be mistaken about that.
2.5 I like wristwatches with lots of little dials and functions. However I’ve given up wearing them, because they’re such a pain to keep regulated. (I still wear a watch, just not the complicated kind.)
2.6 I once punched a guy who’s dead now. The two facts are not related. Anyway, he deserved it.
2.7 Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever the hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to eat some chocolate.
3. I shall pass this on, as is my wont, to zero deserving bloggers. Why should I dilute such an honor by sharing it with lesser writers?
4. Done.
Cat Eyes Squirrel
This photo has Going Viral written all over it (which is an ugly cliche serious writers should never use).
The photo was shot by Jim Tiller in Ormond Beach Fla., Wednesday morning, September 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Daytona Beach News-Journal, Jim Tiller)
Inspiring Quotes for the Traveler
1. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a hastily uploaded picture of a plane at the departure gate.”
2. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I tweeted my followers to ask which I should take.”
I love these. Read more at 501 Places
Eat like a Viking, regurgitate, repeat
In case you’re wondering how I’m doing on the Virtual Book Tour I’ve been working on for my publisher, I think I can say it’s been going well. I’ve finished one blog post and several interviews for various literature-related blogs. And yes, I’ll let you know where to look for them, once they appear (assuming I find out myself).
I’m nearly finished with the first batch of interviews. I understand more are coming. Today the publicist asked me how I felt about writing a food-related post for a blog that talks to authors about their favorite recipes.
Now on the surface that doesn’t make much sense, me being a certified microwave-dependent bachelor (though I do make a mean scratch chocolate chip cookie when the fit is on me). But the idea of writing about Viking food, and relating it to West Oversea (buy it here) is intriguing. I’ve decided to do it, and I’ve made arrangements to borrow a recipe from a reenactor friend.
(And yes, in case you wondered, I will give her credit for it.)
I feel confident I can produce a post unlike any this particular blog has seen before. A hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners exposé of genuine Viking cuisine, featuring such delights as rotten shark (a delicacy in Iceland which reportedly made that Chef Gordon Ramsey throw up), and sheep’s head (also popular in Iceland. The eyeballs, I’m told, are especially relished). Many is the joke that’s been made about lutefisk over the years, but the Norwegians’ beloved lutefisk is just a pale, ghostly remnant of the true Nightmare On Elm Street mealtime horrors of the Scandinavian past.
Because we’re talking about a marginal economy, where taste places a far distant second to survival.
People sometimes ask me whether I wish I had been born in the Viking Age.
My answer is no, for three reasons.
One, I was a sickly child who would in all probability have been exposed on a hillside for the wolves at birth.
Two, the plumbing was awful.
Three, the food was inedible to the modern palate.
I’ve written a time travel book (still unpublished at this date) in which a father and daughter get the opportunity to go back to Viking Age Norway and stay there. She points out that if they did, they’d never get to eat chocolate again.
I call that an excellent point.
Merry Christmas, Gromit
Britain’s Wallace and Gromit are now stars in Royal Mail stamps. I wonder if I can get some of these.