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Outrage

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According to reports, the Taliban in Afghanistan have hanged a 7-year-old boy.

A 7-year-old boy was murdered by the Taliban in an apparent act of retribution this week. Afghan officials said that the child was accused of spying for U.S. and NATO forces and hanged from a tree in southern Afghanistan.

Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor of Helmand, said that the killing happened days after the boy’s grandfather, Abdul Woodod Alokozai, spoke out against militants in their home village.

For all you relativists who have trouble figuring out the complicated differences between good and evil, this is what we call evil.

Stopping a boat running a legal military blockade is not evil.

Just for the record.

You might want to make a note of this.

Religion

Testimony of God's Gracious Gift

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Connection Point, June 2010 Edition from CBMC on Vimeo.

I edited this video last week, and we’ve talked about it around the office since, so I am spontaneously sharing it with you. This is part of my day job as a graphic designer for Christian Business Men’s Connection. The story is remarkable, and you will see only a few of the details. Two guys who met as teenagers in a Kung Fu school became great friends through God’s saving grace.

Music

Musical interlude

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I was fairly pleased with my post yesterday, but it’s left me depleted. I feel like I’ve said everything I have to say for the moment.

Also, I’m bummed because Hunter Baker, author of The End of Secularism (don’t read it–it’ll only give him a swelled head) is now getting mentioned on Adam Baldwin’s twitter feed. Yes, that Adam Baldwin, the guy who plays Casey on “Chuck.”

Have I mentioned that I hate Hunter Baker?

In closing, here’s Sissel Kyrkjebø doing a little Grieg. “Solveig’s Song” from “Peer Gynt.” Comfort food for the soul.

Non-fiction, Publishing

Irony or Targeted?

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This book on leadership for pastors is described by the publisher as “Brief. Practical. Insightful. And conveniently sized to fit in any bathroom!”

Rev Magazine’s Bathroom Guide to Leadership

Reading

Summer is for Reading

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Rachel Motte leads a list of summer reading recommendations at The Evangelical Outpost. She’s going to dip into the Qur’an. That’s a bit thick for me at the moment.

I plan to read several Flannery O’Connor stories this summer and The Book of the Dun Cow Other books too, of course, and I’ll let you know as I read them.

Religion

We saw this coming, didn't we?

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I finally watched “Gladiator” the other day. This news may surprise you. A guy who loves swords as much as I do, you would think, would have leaped for “Gladiator” like a trout after a fly, the moment it was released.

But in fact I found myself putting it off. I’m pretty sure I know why I delayed, too. I’d read a review that told me what happens to Maximus’ wife and son. I knew that in order to enjoy the good parts, I’d have to go through that scene, and whether it happened off screen or on, it would poison the whole thing for me. I hope you won’t think less of me if I admit that I’m basically a pretty tenderhearted guy, with a low tolerance for the suffering of innocents.

As a writer, I understand why they added that scene (and, according to Wikipedia, it was added. It wasn’t in the original script. They put it in to increase Maximus’ incentive for vengeance). You have to raise the stakes, if you want to engage an audience and motivate a character to dire and terrible deeds. People don’t wake up one morning and say, “I think I’ll assassinate a dictator today.” They need (or so we imagine) a personal reason, a mighty, visceral wrong to right. Continue reading We saw this coming, didn't we? →

Reading, Writing

Twelve Literary Journals Your Future Agent is Reading

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Writer’s Digest “polled 40 literary agents to see which journals they read with an eye for new talent. Then, [they] rounded up 12 of their picks and contacted the publications’ editors for an inside glimpse at each one—and exclusive tips on how you can break in.”

Fiction, Reviews

Relentless, by Dean Koontz

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Dean Koontz is a bold writer when it comes to experimenting with genres. In Relentless he gives us a comic horror science fiction thriller. It’s a very enjoyable and compelling book, but I’m not entirely sure all its parts work together.

I’ve said in other reviews that I admire Koontz’s general avoidance of the common (lazy) writer’s trick of telling stories about writers. But Relentless is about a writer (and his family). It could hardly have been otherwise, given the premise.

If horror means basing plots on our greatest fears, there can be no greater horror premise for a writer than a sociopathic critic. Negative critics are the enemies against whom there is no defense. Fighting a critic is a loser’s game. But how much worse if that critic wants you (and your family) dead? Continue reading Relentless, by Dean Koontz →