Let’s talk about promises. To narrow the field, let’s talk about the promises the producers of culture make to us regarding their shows and movies and books. Now, I don’t mean advertising slogans (BEST OF THE YEAR), which are not promises so much as exercises in hope and hype. I mean the implicit promises of…
Shannon’s Blog
The Reepicheep Syndrome
It happens in fiction. A character strides through scene after scene, endlessly impressive to his fellow characters and obviously beloved of his author. He is invariably showered with attention and almost always with praise – except from the audience. The audience can only watch, baffled and annoyed. This character is the author’s pet: The author…
The Distinctive Pearl
I have occasionally had the thought that modern Christian fiction has not so much departed from mainstream publishing as stayed where everyone used to be. The idea was first prompted by the Clayton Standard, which promised clean stories and “intelligent censorship” to the people – more than two million a month – who read the…
Spotlight: Dreams and Devotion
Some dreams will be dashed, and their devotion will be tested. Dara’s life is full of farm work and worries, especially now that her older brother is a priest in a faroff city. Yet she still has time to dream of the life she hopes will someday be. She dreams of marrying…
Review: Heart of the Winterland
Princess Calisandra is two hundred years old, and you would never know it, because she still possesses the body, mind, experiences, and maturity of a very young woman. That is what happens when you pass your whole life in a kingdom locked by magic into winter, timelessness, and an inescapable sameness. But finally something is…
Good Character(s)
This summer I made my first foray into Jane Austen, reading Mansfield Park. I found the novel more thought-provoking than enjoyable, and one of the issues it raised for me was the relationship between moral goodness and good characters. Fanny Price, the novel’s heroine, is probably the most emphatically good (in the moral sense) character…
Arresting Attention
The topic of the hour is superheroes, so I am going add my two cents, or less, to the conversation swirling around this cultural and cinematic phenomenon. I was never that into superheroes. On to a new topic. Good openings, endlessly emphasized in modern fiction, are defined by being evocative, and it doesn’t really matter…
Cover Reveal: Lightporter
I am pleased to be sharing with you a word from science fiction author C.B. Cook…. Hello, friends! I’m so excited to be sharing the cover of Lightporter with all of you today! This cover has been in the works for quite a while, but since I just finished writing the book, I…
The New Look
… which is not to be confused with Eisenhower’s New Look, or FDR’s New Deal, or John Kennedy’s New Frontier, or Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom, or Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism. (One of the lessons of history is the enduring popularity of political slogans that begin “New.”) The New Look I am referring to is, of…
Look Away: A Series of Unfortunate Events
Houses burning down. Parents dying. Guardians dying. Untalented actors with ropes, knives, and nefarious plots. Hurricanes, deadly leeches, dangerous reptiles. Lumber mills with numerous safety violations. This is a series of unfortunate events, and you can pull up a chair and watch. Or you could just look away. This January Netflix premiered Lemony Snicket’s A…