Burning Harry at the Stake
More Christians line up to condemn Harry Potter as the devil's business... at Christian Today (not to be confused with Christianity Today.) While they're at it, why not blacklist Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the tales of King Arthur, and Beauty and the Beast as well? Those stories are full of spells and unsettling magic. What would their response be to this news?
Whether using dragons, firefish or sword-wielding soccer moms, writers in the emerging category of Christian fantasy fiction are clamoring for a spot in the marketplace.
Fantasy fiction in general commands a large following and copious real estate in bookstores. But while Web sites and Christian writing conferences brim with writers working on Christian fantasy, publishers mostly are just starting to open to these new books.
The books may carry overt references to Jesus and Scripture - or simply an understated Christian perspective with clean content, positive role models and unambiguous depictions of good and evil in the style of C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien. Writers and fans use the term ''Christian speculative fiction'' to include fantasy, science fiction or anything otherworldly.
By the way, even though the article mentions Auralia's Colors, my story has very little to do with "Christian fantasy." There are no "overt references to Jesus and Scripture." It certainly isn't "clean content." I'm not sure my story offers "positive role models," and most certainly does not offer "unambiguous depictions of good and evil." The story of Auralia's Colors has more in common with Pan's Labyrinth than it does with This Present Darkness.
Interrupting David Bazan's Breakfast
So, this morning Anne and I have escaped our neighborhood to hide out at a coffee shop on the north side of Seattle. I'm planning to make a lot of progress on the sequel to Auralia's Colors (which is now due Wednesday), and we have got to avoid distraction.
So, we've chosen a quiet, beautiful, peaceful courtyard lined with Christmas lights, decorated with a fountain and bamboo, and Celtic music is playing. A great place for a sleepy Saturday morning. And the coffee is good.
The family at the table next to us has a beautiful little girl.
I take a look at the girl's dad, and he seems strangely familiar.
I do a "Google Image" search.Read more
The Dark is... um... well...
Here's the trailer for The Dark is Rising.
I've met a lot of fans of Susan Cooper's novels. My wife Anne, for one. I have a feeling the fans will pull out their hair when they see this. And no, I don't mean in fits of excitement.
I mean, really, doesn't this just look like a collage of tired fantasy cliches?
"Even the smallest light shines in the darkness."
Here's an article from back in May about just how far they're going in "updating" the story.
Man, with the exception of Pan's Labyrinth, it seems like every fantasy movie coming out these days serves to make us remember just what a master Peter Jackson really is. I've said many times that I'd rather not see him direct The Hobbit because I think he'd make it too dark, too violent, and carry it too far from its childrens' story roots. But when I see a trailer like this, I start having nightmares about what might happen if he didn't it....
So help me, if I ever see Auralia's Colors turned into a movie and packed full of tired old slogans like "We serve the light, they serve the dark," I'll have my name removed from the project.
Now, it could be that this is just a really, really bad trailer, and The Dark is Rising is going to be a masterpiece. I sincerely hope so. Nobody will be happier than me if the movie turns out to be great.
And by the way, did I hear a stormtrooper's gun go off during one of the cuts in this trailer? I swear I did...
Fingers crossed for Stardust. I really hope that one delivers....
Specials: Doug Cummings on "Silence"; Also: "Rescue Dawn"; and Peter Sellers
Here's Doug Cummings' new Masters of Cinema essay on Masahiro Shinoda's film Silence, which is based on Shusaku Endo's extraordinary novel. As you probably know, Martin Scorsese's next film is his own adaptation of the same source material. I urge you to read the novel before you see the film's. It's unforgettable.
Here's J. Robert Parks on Rescue Dawn: (http://framingdevice.org/?p=239).  And oh, here's Nate Bell on the same film.
And finally, via Mark Shea, a YouTube clip of Peter Sellers as Lawrence Olivier as Richard III as John Lennon:
An Almighty Groan
Tonight I took my two teenagers and a couple of their friends to see Evan Almighty. I am going to recommend this movie to everyone I know! We laughed until we cried, and I was so absolutely touched by the accurate re-telling of this Noah's Ark story‚ so relevant for today, I almost cried during the movie. This is exactly how Noah's wife and his kids must have felt. This movie was so perfect‚ the message was wonderful, and there was not a drop of profanity, violence, or sex. I felt the hand of God on the actors and this movie. There's hope in this hurting world after all.
Hmmm. How exactly do you come to the conclusion that this is an "accurate re-telling"?
And it's interesting that the way she explains that it's a wonderful movie is to point out that there's "not a drop of profanity, violence, or sex." I'll bet an "accurate" portrayal of the flood that destroyed humankind would have given evidence of some cursing. And didn't the flood destroy humankind in part because of humankind's violence... and sexual misbehavior? Isn't a flood a rather *violent* occurrence?
And if the story had been "accurate" to the story of Noah, I suspect it would have included alcohol abuse. And some rather heavy sexual overtones...
And then there's this one:
How on earth are we ever going to stand in front of a Holy God and explain how we had a good laugh at a man portraying a Holy God of heaven and earth? I know the Lord has times of laughter, but I am not sure of the world's interpretation. Folly has nothing to do with God, only man. I guess you would have to call me a straight shooter! Straight talk has always been my specialty in church and Sunday school. Too bad you don't have a place on your website to become a teacher instead of an entertainer of worldliness and fads.
I'll let you folks respond to this one. I hardly know where to start.
Here's the blue-ribbon winner:
The man who made Evan Almighty does not sound like he has a personal relationship with Christ his Savior. He quotes that "art affects our Christianity." This is not true. If Christ is in us, then what we do will be a reflection of the hope that is in us. He also mentioned "this creative force we call God." What is that?! He is our Creator, not just some creative force we call God. He's not some cool idea for living. He deserves much more honor than that. SHAME on you who can't pick up on this deceptive umbrella of Christianity that Shadyac has placed on himself.
It is not true that "art affects our Christianity"?
Really?
I don't know about you, but art has affected my Christianity just as much as preaching or teaching. From Nativity scenes to The Passion of the Christ, from The Brothers Karamozov to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, from Wolfang Amadeus Mozart to Over the Rhine, great art inspires and transforms my faith constantly. And Jesus set an example of transformative art by telling timeless, profound stories. The Bible *is* a work of art, and it directs us to look about at the world around us with new eyes, so that we can interpret God's truth not only in creation but in culture.
This reader wins a a copy of Through a Screen Darkly, which will give her more than 300 pages of examples of art inspiring, affirming, and transforming Christian faith. I'll just wait by the phone for her to call with her contact information.
Radiohead Re-imagined: David Bazan, My Brightest Diamond, and Cold War Kids
Wow.
Stereogum has posted a free mp3 album celebrating ... and reinventing... Radiohead's best album (in my humble opinion), OK Computer.
Even better? It features artists like David Bazan's Black Cloud, My Brightest Diamond, and Cold War Kids.
I'm going to check this out.Read more
Superman Returns Again, and So Does Spacey
Superman: Man of Steel is the working title of Brian Singer's sequel to last year's Superman Returns.
And the Variety news story addressing this reveals...
... that Kevin Spacey never used the word "retirement."
So, that means the story I linked a while back, which quoted him as saying, "I don't care about my personal acting career any more. I'm done with it..." was erroneous. My apologies, but it seemed legit to me.
Anyway, speaking of sequels, I need to get back to writing my Auralia's Colors sequel. It's almost 100 degrees in Seattle today, and I'm fighting a headache, so it's hard to stay focused....
Yikes. The biggest Auralia sighting yet...
Check out the biggest Auralia's Colors sighting yet.
Amy writes:
In case he wasn’t aware of it (and I’m sure he is), this one is for Jeffrey Overstreet, whose first novel, Auralia’s Colors, is being published by Waterbrook this fall. The book, which, from the first chapter seems to be excellent, is getting nice exposure at the show…
In fact, Amy… I didn’t know it was getting exposure like THAT.
Thanks so much for noticing!
I also noticed Auralia’s Colors mentioned in this article.
Which is interesting…
…because most of the things said in this article about “Christian fantasy fiction” have little or nothing to do with Auralia’s Colors.
My mechanic is a Christian. He fixes cars. Is his car-repair “Christian auto repair”? I wouldn’t say so. It’s just good car repair. He glorifies God by doing good work as a mechanic.
Similarly, I’m trying to glorify God by writing a memorably spooky, frightening, enthralling adventure story. I did not try to “work in Christian elements.” If you asked me, “What’s the Christian message?” I wouldn’t know what to say. There are no characters in Auralia’s Colors here that are meant to represent Jesus. (One person who read the book said to me, “It’s strange… the closest thing you have to a ‘Christ figure’ in this story is an inanimate object.” I got a good laugh out of that.)
Hopefully, Auralia’s Colors is just good storytelling. But that’s for you to judge. If it doesn’t measure up to the standards of excellence in the general-market fantasy literature, then it’s not good enough for me.
Thank you, Amy Wellborn!
Along the Way with Kim Jeffries: "Ratatouille," Patriotic Movies, Storytelling, and More
You can listen in on the conversation I had with Kim Jeffries on her show Along the Way. My part starts after some talk about hip-hop and the West Nile Virus. (I don't think I'm supposed to draw any conclusions from that.)
In fact, I've started stopping by that show monthly, just to chat about movies with Kim.
Thanks to Kim and also to Kelly Lynn for setting this up and making me feel welcome.