Weekly Links: ISIS, Austen, and more

SOME GOOD READING FOR YOUR SUNDAY AFTERNOON, SET OUT IN MY USUAL CATEGORIES OF FAITH, AND FAMILY, AND FICTION...

Faith

-"No Matter How Many  Priests ISIS Kills, They Can't Win":

When a faithful pastor baptizes, he is telling those clothed in the waters of regeneration, “You are no longer under the power of the devil, his murderers, or his terrorists. You are now under the protection of Christ, and no one can take you away from him.” When a pastor faithfully administers Holy Communion, he says to those who gather at the altar, “Here with his body and blood, Christ covers you in his righteousness, and no knife or bullet can pierce through that armor.”

-"A Good Man Justifies a Wicked Deed: Grudem on Trump":

We must vote for flawed men, but not for men who glory in their flaws.

-"Bats in the Attic":

The thing is, the Devil and all his evil cohorts really don’t want us, or anybody else, to go to church. If there is any reason at all, however small, to persuade you not to go, that reason will be gathered up and hurled at you, along with your own natural inclinations to take it easy and stay home. If you arrive on a Sunday morning, exhausted, totally unable to conceive of hauling yourself out of bed and going to sit in a hard pew with a lot of annoying people, well, you are not alone.

Family

-"Uncannily Youthful At 67, He Embodies Antidote To Bummer 'Biggest Loser' Study": apparently, it's all about building muscle mass.

Fiction

-"Austen Upside Down": Can you be an Austen fan without really understanding her? This article makes me think the answer is "yes".

-"Ten Thoughts About the Business Side of Writing": so very many good thoughts here.

May your week be a gracious rhythm of meaningful work and peaceful rest.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

Book Notes: "The Subversive Copy Editor", by Carol Fisher Saller

The Subversive Copy Editor, by Carol Fisher Saller, was a lovely read. Not a textbook, nor yet a memoir, this book is nonetheless both educational and personable. It's about the life of a copy-editor, and even though Saller works at the prestigious University of Chicago Press (home of the Chicago Manual of Style), her book contains great advice for the lonely freelance copy editor, as well as for the copy editor who is working for a big business.

I enjoyed the basic business sense of this book, the funny anecdotes, the shrewd editing advice, and, honestly, the way Saller's lovely and winsome writing voice just carried me along through the text. Highly recommended for anyone who works on getting books to press. 

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Book Notes: "Wreck of the Nebula Dream", by Veronica Scott

Yes, the cover, I know. Never mind that.

"Wreck of the Nebula Dream" is billed as "the Titanic disaster in space" and, honestly, it does a pretty good job of being that.

It's also billed as being a sci-fi romance, and I thought it did a not-as-good job of being that. Let me explain...

Our story begins with Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson grabbing a ride home on the Nebula Dream, a newly-commissioned luxury liner that's about to go on its maiden voyage and which is aiming to beat the galaxy's current speed record. Across a crowded shuttle cabin, he catches a glimpse of businesswoman Mara Lyrae, and is smitten.

Nothing much comes of it for awhile, though. We follow Nick as he tries to divert himself with the supposedly state-of-the-art appointments of the Nebula Dream and instead finds himself noticing all the places where the corporate builders apparently cut corners.

The pace of the story picks up as the Nebula Dream's engines falter, the ship hits a field of asteroids, and disaster encompasses the entire ship. Nick springs into action, trying to save everyone he can, and from there on out ... well, actually, from there on out, it reads like your basic action movie.

And I liked that! I really did. It really felt like I was reading something like Lethal Weapon crossed with The Fifth Element (maybe not quite so well-produced), and I was entertained throughout the rest of the adventure.

It didn't feel like much of a romance, though. I mean, there was a romantic subplot, but that subplot felt like a pencil-sketch, whereas the action plot felt like it was painted in competent watercolors.

What I liked and what I didn't...
I appreciated how our hero, Nick, just couldn't help himself when it came to saving every person possible. I was puzzled when a religious/mystical (maybe? or maybe it was just aliens?) thread became plot-important in the last quarter of the book. I appreciated that even though there was violence, the author didn't seem to revel in it: she portrayed it matter-of-factly, as obstacles our heroes had to overcome, and didn't seem interested (as some thriller writers are) in making her readers wallow in depravity. And I enjoyed the setting a lot: the space-faring luxury-liner felt real and intriguing. I wished the romance felt a little more real. I wish I had been pulled in a little sooner (the first few chapters felt a bit vague and wander-y).

In all: I enjoyed it for what it was. I read most of it down the long, long stretch of the 5 interstate, and it was the perfect diversion for that boring drive. It, again, really truly reminded me of an action movie. It's that kind of uncomplicated*, fun, whizzbang ride.

Content warning for some vulgar language, for violence (though, as I said, it's not excessive or gratuitous), and for one attempted rape scene (again, not gratuitous).

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

*I know this might sound like like condescension, but I don't mean it that way at all: writing something that's uncomplicated fun for the reader is hard work for the writer, and my hat's off to Ms. Scott for doing it.

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Weekly Links: Wodehouse, Tolkien, and more!

Guarding the good reading...

SOME GOOD READING FOR YOUR SUNDAY AFTERNOON, SET OUT IN MY USUAL CATEGORIES OF FAITH, AND FAMILY, AND FICTION...

(I should note: I've skipped posting this for a few weeks, but I was still collecting links, so this week's version is super-long. Sorry!)

(Note the second: if you want some good fictional reading, please take a look at my short story "An Anonymous Source" in Havok's Heroes vs. Villains edition. Hope you enjoy it!)

 

Faith 

-"Association Between Religious Service Attendance and Lower Suicide Rates Among US Women".

-"The Evangelical Gender Crack-Up" - There's so much good stuff here.

-"Individuality: a fresh concept":

You see what’s going on here? The prophet’s audience, the Jews of the Babylonian exile, find it hard to understand how anyone – let alone God – would not want to punish a son for his father’s wrongdoing. And vice versa. Acting in any other way seems to them not only stupid, but positively unjust. What we see happening here is a major cultural shift. A brand new idea in human history, imported from outside our world.

-"The Distressing Disguise of the Slut".

-"'We Know that We Are Going To Be Killed': An Interview with an Iraqi Priest".

-"Donald Trump, Man of Faith" - particularly this bit:

...the gloomy aspect of traditional Christian practice is also the wellspring of Christian compassion. At the moment a Christian asks for forgiveness, he must acknowledge his own weakness and look mercifully on the weakness of others. In the Our Father, the Christian asks that he be forgiven, just as he in turn forgives. From the holy terror that Peale called “fear thoughts” comes the light of Christian love.

Family 

-An older article that might be good to revisit this week: "How silence can breed prejudice: A child development professor explains how and why to talk to kids about race".

-"I'm Good With Whatever: The High Price of People Pleasing".

-"Because Life Doesn't Give Do-Overs".

Fiction

- "On Writing Negative Reviews" - I have to agree: negative reviews can be incredibly useful to the reader. And, I'd argue, to the author as well. I know I've read negative book reviews and thought, "The reviewer might not like that, but I'd love it," and gone ahead and picked up the book.

-"All In": On giving it everything, every time you write.

-"Interviews: P.G. Wodehouse" - just delightful.

-"Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year": I'm going to try. I truly am. Only 83 to go...

-"The Magic of the Lord of the Rings Books":

My favorite book began with a disappointment: The hero disappeared at the end of its first chapter...

-"Belle's Fairy Tale Education: Learning Virtue in Disney's Beauty and the Beast": a lovely meditation on the value of fairy tales, as seen in my favorite Disney movie ever.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

Read my short story "An Anonymous Source"

I'm excited to announce that I have a short story appearing in this month's Havok Magazine, Heroes vs. Villains edition!

I first found out about Havok when I attended the Orange County Christian Writers' Conference back in April. I got to look at some of the issues there and talk to a few people who worked on the staff. And when I saw that they had a superheroes issue coming out, and then I realized that I had a story idea that would fit the theme ... well, I had to give it a shot.

And I'm happy to say that it paid off! You can read my short story, "An Anonymous Source", on page 14 of this month's issue of Havok. It's about a woman who realizes that there's more going on in her city than the news headlines would suggest, and who has to decide if--and what--she's going to do about it.

I hope you like it! And I know you'll enjoy the other great stories in this issue--Havok's a lot of fun, because all the stories are flash fiction: a lot of emotion, character, and action packed into a super-short word count. Nice and intense.

(And yes, this is the story that I wrote this blog post about.)

Happy reading!

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)

time for a terrible pun

I hear this *every time* that Taylor Swift song comes on.

Today I finally got around to drawing it.

-Jessica Snell

Yarnalong: "The Lifegiving Home" and "Pavement"

Today I'm linking up with Ginny, over at Small Things, who says, "Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading . . . I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?"

The book:

I'm reading "The Lifegiving Home" by Sally and Sarah Clarkson. So far, it's a lovely and restful read, perfect for summer.

The knitting:

The knitting is "Pavement", by Veera Välimäki (Rav link). It's a cute pullover and I'm ... well, honestly, I'm knitting it in order to knit up some old (really beautiful, but been-sittin'-in-my-stash-too-long) laceweight yarn. I'm holding two laceweight yarns double, and I like the fabric I'm getting. Here's a link to my project details on Ravelry.

Välimäki is the designer of the "Color Affection" shawl, which I knit not just once, not just twice, but three times. It's fun to finally take on one of her sweater designs.


What are you creating and reading this week?

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

This post contains an Amazon affiliate link; if you purchase a book from this link, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.  (See full disclosure on sidebar of my blog.)