What are your favorite fantasy novels?

I am just re-reading (and listening) to A Memory of Light, the final book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. My favorite books are those that I can read, and delight in, again and again. So what are my favorite classic fantasy stories? Here is my current list:

1. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
3. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson)
4. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
5. The Song of Albion by Stephen R. Lawhead
6. The Curdie Books by George MacDonald
7. Codex Alera by Jim Butcher
8. Lilith by George MacDonald
9. Pellucidar series by Edgar Rice Burroughs
10. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

In the interesting website, Books of Brilliance, there is a list of the 20 best fantasy novels of all time. Why not check it out? I enjoy looking at other lists since they give me new books to try out.

If you’re interested in considering reading my novels, here is what one of my readers had to say about Coventry 2091 …

“I feel a little bit like a kid who wandered into a closet and found a wonderland. Here I was, a prisoner, along with the main character, and then suddenly I’m on a beautiful adventure full of danger and excitement and joy. I loved this book. I loved it for the surprises along the way and the victory brought out of intense loss. I love the way the story unfolds and I love the way the characters help each other and overcome.”

My books are available on Amazon and Smashwords (e-books only). If you’d rather read them for free, most are available on Hoopla at your favorite library.

Surprised by the Movie SURPRISED BY OXFORD

Carolyn (Caro) Weber’s very personal memoir, Surprised by Oxford, is one of my favorite books. I have read it at least twice, I’ve discussed in the book club I attend, and I’ve given it to members of my family.

Imagine my delight when I noted the book had been made into a movie (2023) and was available on Hoopla at my cottage area library. While eager to watch the movie, I did wondered if I would be disappointed by the changes made during the screen writing *I remember poignantly how disappointed I was at the mess Hollywood had made of another one of my favorite books — R. H. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers).

Although some changes were made, the essence of the story was captured in the abbreviated version of the screen play. In my view, the cinematography depicting Oxford and the English country side is excellent and the dry humor of the erudite students and staff shines through. Caro’s transformation from a sometimes angry skeptic to a seeker after the secret longing that inhabits all of us, was catalyzed as much by the skeptical and arrogant attitudes of some of the students and staff as by the surprising humility and search after truth found in others.

In my view, the movie, like the book, is worthy of five stars.

There were a few changes made in the screen play. As one learns from the book, Weber was a Canadian grew up in London, Ontario. In the movie, although not stated explicitly, she was portrayed as American (for example her father was supposedly accused of a felony). In the book she attended Oriel College in Oxford, while the college listed in the movie was Tyrian (which I presume is a fictitious college name). None of these mar the story. If you are interested in an unconventional love story with a lot of thoughtful content, I suggest you check it out.

He saw and then he believed

A garden tomb I visited in 2020. Near one of the proposed locations of the crucifixion of Christ. Link

I have known only one person in my life who has claimed to see a ghost. It was a woman and the interesting thing is that she disbelieved in the immortality of the soul before seeing the ghost and still disbelieves after having seen it. She thinks it was a hallucination. In other words, seeing is not believing.” — C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis in the essay Miracles in The Collected Works of C. S. Lewis. Page 313.

At the Resurrection Sunday service on March 31st, I was struck by a small phrase in the Gospel of John (John 20:8) where John, upon entering the empty tomb of Jesus, writing of himself in the third person, said, “He saw and believed.”

John, just as the Lewis quote indicated, spoke as if seeing and believing are distinct and sequential events. Sometimes they may appear simultaneous because we don’t pay sufficient attention to the assumptions that are behind our beliefs.

As a chemist I will believe a chemical hypothesis as established if experimental observations support the conjecture. However, I often do so without enumerating the many steps of trust (the Greek word for faith pistis means trust) that I am assuming because I carry our this validation process so often.

• I am trusting that the observations were done well and are reliable

• I am trusting that my mind can be relied upon to consider the observations and make a reliable estimate of support or nonsupport for the hypothesis

• I am trusting that I can distance myself sufficiently from bias so as to be objective

In other words, even for something as straightforward as hypotheses in chemistry, the leap from data to truth always requires some measure of faith or trust.

Historical claims, because of their time dependence and the inherent uncertainty about what fraction of the data we have been able to observe, will always have more uncertainty than time independent chemical questions about molecular structure and mechanism. Still we have no trouble believing in Hannibal, Scipio, Julius Caesar, and Genghis Khan. 

For me the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. given the historical documentary evidence and the consequences of that extraordinary event is much more compelling than other events of that antiquity.

N.T. Wright in writing his 817 page book, The Resurrection of the Son of God, (2003), provides a scholarly and painstaking review of all the evidence for the empty tomb and explanatory hypotheses of the events. I have borrowed the book from Hoopla and am slowly working my way through it.

If you’re interested here is a description of the content …

Why did Christianity begin, and why did it take the shape it did? To answer this question – which any historian must face – renowned New Testament scholar N. T. Wright focuses on the key question: what precisely happened at Easter? What did the early Christians mean when they said that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead? What can be said today about this belief? This book, third in Wright’s series Christian Origins and the Question of God, sketches a map of ancient beliefs about life after death, in both the Greco-Roman and Jewish worlds. It then highlights the fact that the early Christians’ belief about the afterlife belonged firmly on the Jewish spectrum, while introducing several new mutations and sharper definitions. This, together with other features of early Christianity, forces the historian to read the Easter narratives in the gospels, not simply as late rationalizations of early Christian spirituality, but as accounts of two actual events: the empty tomb of Jesus and his “appearances.” How do we explain these phenomena? The early Christians’ answer was that Jesus had indeed been bodily raised from the dead; that was why they hailed him as the messianic “son of God.” No modern historian has come up with a more convincing explanation. Facing this question, we are confronted to this day with the most central issues of worldview and theology. N. T. Wright Link

Discussion and questioning have very important in my spiritual formation. I wrote my book, Questioning Your Way to Faith, as a way of showing how heartfelt questions discussed by friends can be so helpful in providing clarity. If you’d like to check it out, you can order it from Amazon or borrow it for free from Hoopla at your favorite library. I hope you had a blessed Easter.

I very much appreciated the Easter blog, Thanks Be to God, by Rick Laser. If you’d like to check it out, here is the Laser link.

Movie Prompt: First and Second Things

I’ve been thinking a good deal about Surprised by Oxford and Carolyn Drake’s disappointment at her abandonment by her father. I often see in movies the heart wrenching dilemma faced by a parent where a child is terrified by an event that just happened, be it illness, violence, or some other trauma. The parent, desperate to allay the child’s fear, looks the child in the eye and tells them, “I will never let that happen to you. I will protect you.”

The child believes the parent and his fear is allayed. However, most dire circumstances are beyond control of the parent. To be specific, for example if the parent is the father, isn’t he setting himself up to do what only God can do? In other words in order to allay fear in the child (a good thing) he is setting himself up in place of God as if the father had control of all things and all circumstances.

So, at its heart, the parent’s assertion is at least an expression of hope rather than fact, but often it will prove to be an outright lie. Isn’t the parent simply setting the child up for the kind of deep disappointment and betrayal that Carolyn Drake felt? Can a well-meaning lie in the long run ever be better than the awful truth? So what is the alternative? Should the father tell the child he isn’t truly in control of all things? Should the father then say, “Sorry kiddo, this might also happen to you and there’s nothing I could do about it.”

I think this is a false dichotomy. Lying or being a stoic and telling your young child to face up to a hopeless perceived truth are not the only two alternatives.

Although I also do not control all outcomes, as a Christ Follower I realize or ought to realize that I and my child both a have a true father who has control of all things.

We will all face tragedy and death in this short life. It’s never too early to begin building trust in the father who truly loves us, has paid a great price to ransom us, and has the power to see us through all things (even death) and make them work out for our good and up-building. Of course if you don’t yet believe this, you are left with lying and stoicism as the only options until you encounter and embrace the creator and upholder of the universe.

In summary, although I began with a movie example in which parents make impossible claims to their children to allay their fears, I’m ultimately not writing of this because of a desire to give parental advice. The movie example of lying to children to allay fear is merely an example of a much broader tendency in which we substitute secondary things for primary (or first) things. C. S. Lewis put it this way:

“You can’t get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first.”

C. S. Lewis. First and Second Things in The Collected Works of C. S. Lewis. Page 490.

Lewis had previously illustrated the principle with two examples:

“The woman who makes a dog the centre of her life loses, in the end, not only her human usefulness and dignity but even the proper pleasure of dog keeping. The man who makes alcohol his chief good loses not only his job but his palate and all power of enjoying the earlier (and only pleasurable) levels of intoxication.”

C. S. Lewis. Ibid.

In the end, making sure I keep first things first, is a caution first and foremost for me.

If you’re considering reading my Novels, here is what one of my readers had to say …

“I finished reading Dragons of Sheol last week, and am excited to chat about Halcyon when you’ve got time. The series has been a breath of fresh air for my soul, and has given me inspiration both in my faith and my writing.”

My books are available on Amazon and Smashwords (e-books only on Smashwords). If you’d rather save your hard-earned cash and read them for free, most are available on Hoopla at your favorite library.

Overcoming Our Fear of Missing Out

And he [God] brought him [Abram] outside and said, “look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:5-6 (ESV)

Going outside to look at the stars has always been one way to get an inkling of God’s majesty, greatness, goodness, and love of beauty.

I had a conversation with a younger relation who explained to me one of the fears of his generation was the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). After reflection I could see the origin of this fear. Our lives are punctuated by decisions, and each rejected decision branch closes out an opportunity which will never come again. Or will it?

On further reflection, and especially after I listened to a message by Timothy Keller on our future hope, I came to realize I was affected by the Fear of Missing Out in a different form. FOMO had contaminated the assumptions I have made about our future hope as Christ Followers.

To illustrate this let me use a couple of examples. I thought it self-evident that if a person close to me had died, I inevitably missed out on the many years of interaction we might have had if they had lived. In another example, if a person had worked harder and had better grades they might have qualified for the school they wanted to enter. By not doing so they were missing out.

But this superficial analysis misses an important point: in setting our expectations for the future, our longings imbue our missed-out-goals with attributes far beyond what the realized opportunity could deliver. If that person I had lost, had lived, it would be a relationship fraught with highs and lows like all our other relationships. If the person working for admission had entered the school he longed for, he would have soon discovered its defects and the bloom would have tarnished his longing and expectation.

To balance this over-hyped expectation which is sure to be disappointed, I also underestimated our hope for the future. I had, without serious thought, slipped into the assumption that after death, when as Paul says in II Cor. 5:1 (ESV) comparing our earthly body (tent) to our heavenly body (building) …

 

“if this tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”

II Corinthians 5:1 (ESV)

… I assumed this time after death will be a time of consolation and recompense (or so I thought). By that I meant we cannot recover what we have lost but get some boon to offset the loss. But, like a life insurance policy settlement, where the money never makes up for what has been lost, this consolation has to fall short of the loss it is meant to console.

But what if the perceived loss has been 90% illusion all along? What if we expected some paltry earthly good to act as the hope for the satisfaction of a deep longing in our heart? What if when the real consummation of our hoped-for-longing comes, we say instead, “Now I see it, this is what I longed for all along in all those things like human relationships and university admission that I thought would satisfy. How wrong I was to even think those paltry things would answer!”

This realized consummation (i.e. getting what I was longing for and wanted all along) rather than consolation has been one of the very significant things I learned in 2023. It has been a very long time in coming. As I remember this and let this hope fill my heart, it will quell my Fear of Missing Out. There will be no missing out.

 

Timothy Keller passed away in May 2023. His messages are available on Spotify under his name. The message I cited was in a series on hope. Only a portion of his messages are available for podcasting at any given time. Watch for the podcast to rebroadcast the series on hope.

Revisiting Mr. Sensible from C.S. Lewis’ THE PILGRIM’S REGRESS

“I know a eugenist who promises to breed us a race of peons who will be psychologically incapable of playing me a trick like this Drudge.” — Mr. Sensible

C. S. Lewis. The Pilgrim’s Regress. (1933)

I keep a file of quotes that have impressed me, and recently I came across one I had collected a year ago on rereading C.S. Lewis’ The Pilgrim’s Regress

“I know a eugenist who promises to breed us a race of peons who will be psychologically incapable of playing me a trick like this Drudge.” — Mr. Sensible

For Mr. Sensible every relationship, every activity, and every appetite is to be appreciated to maximum benefit to Mr. Sensible. For example he has a dog whose health is declining and he decides it’s time to put him down. When asked if he will miss the dog, his reply encapsulates his philosophy: he only likes the dog well enough to enjoy him when he’s there but not so well that Sensible would miss his pet after he is gone.

Sensible, while speaking of his philosophy with great enthusiasm is living a lie. He counts on Drudge, whom he treats abominably, to make his life as easy as possible and to maintain the pretense of moderation and self-sufficiency. When Drudge gives notice and Sensible’s easy life is threatened, Sensible makes the statement quoted above.

When Lewis wrote this in 1933, eugenics was much more in favor than after the Second World War. In the original Star Trek, we meet Khan and his people who are the product of a eugenics program to “improve” the human race. The Star Trek episode and movie rightly taught that making people stronger and more intelligent, does not necessarily make them more virtuous. This “improvement” goal of eugenics is much to be feared.

Sensible talks about a degradation goal which is also to be feared because it is likely easier to achieve. It is always easier to make a car run poorly than to make it run better. In The Halcyon Cycle, I discuss a back story where ancient sorcerers, in an attempt to make biddable servants, created the Halfmen (The Battle for Halcyon) and the Apemen (The Halcyon Dislocation), two levels of degradation.

I fervently hope as we contemplate (and hopefully resolve never to pursue) gene manipulation in humans that we keep in mind the lessons from the past and vow to avoid the twin pitfalls of improvements and “deprovements” of the human race.

In case you’re interested …

Now is your best chance to find my entire ebook collection for a promotional price at @Smashwords as part of their 2023 End of Year Sale! Find my books and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/ through January 1! #SmashwordsEoYSale #Smashwords and search for “Kazmaier”. All my e-books are 50% off.

An Encouraging Review of THE HALCYON DISLOCATION on Just a Bookish Blog

I’m sure my readers who are also authors appreciate reviews as much as I do. To keep writing as an author, one needs to believe that one’s books are doing someone good, whether it be to entertain them, drive their imaginations to new lands and new adventures, or even lead them to thoughts that will later be seen as an important stage in their thinking.

Violet’s review was so encouraging and definitely belongs in my “Author Encouragement File.” Why not check out the full review by using the link below.

Just A Bookish Blog Link

““The Halcyon Dislocation” by Peter Kazmaier is a thrilling dive into a world where science fiction meets fantasy. Kazmaier’s storytelling prowess shines through in this intricately woven narrative, blending multiple storylines and diverse characters with finesse.“

Just A Bookish Blog

It’s Christmas time and this far into December your have received many suggestions on books as Christmas gift ideas. I would of course welcome support of that sort, but I offer a way to check out my books, including THE HALCYON DISLOCATION, for free if you have a library card. The two libraries in Canada I use, both support Hoopla. Why not check out THE HALCYON DISLOCATION by searching the Hoopla catalog and checking the e-book out of your library (hoopla asks for your library card and sets you up automatically)?

https://www.hoopladigital.com/

C. S. Lewis’ Guide to Becoming a Truth-Seeker in an Age of Propaganda

My well-used copy of THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH

As I look at the many sources of persuasive rhetoric facing a person today who genuinely wishes to understand the unvarnished truth about issues under discussion, I realized this blog from about two years ago, needs to be revisited. Lewis foresaw our present age and environment so clearly! He paints a picture about how easy it is to fool readers if one controls all of the information inputs.

In C. S. Lewis’ novel THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH, published in 1945, he foresaw the age of propaganda in the democratic west. An unobtrusive organization, the National Institute of Coordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.), was engaged in implementing its program of  eliminating undesirables. Although not well-known to the public, the N.I.C.E. controlled parliament. It didn’t really matter whom you, as a voter, elected. Once elected, the MP would be beholden to the N.I.C.E. for their success. By controlling all parties, the N.I.C.E. dangled the carrot of political change before us, but each turnover of power proved to be same old politicians in a new set of clothes.  Similarly, the media organizations were also under the thumb of the N.I.C.E.

At one point the protagonist, the malleable Mark Studdock, in his quest to always be part of the progressive element at his college, is roped into writing propaganda pieces for the N.I.C.E. for its many initiatives destined to remove people’s freedoms and liberties. Studdock’s template propaganda pieces appear in customized form in all of the nation’s papers. Lewis presents a brilliant picture of how a well-educated, articulate, academic can write convincingly and compellingly on almost any subject. As a reader, who knew the true events behind the story, I could nevertheless only marvel how a clever writer could twist the context to make the facts fit the wholly deceptive perspective desired by the N.I.C.E. The malevolent Progressive Element in the N.I.C.E. goes on to stage fake protests, use the media to mislead the public to rage against the innocent, all for the purpose of eliminating those people who oppose their pragmatic agenda of efficiency and control. Lewis has a real knack for making the propaganda so persuasive that the reader would be taken in if he didn’t see the actions behind the rhetoric. To me this prophecy is happening before my eyes seventy-five years after this book was written.

How does one, then, become a truth-seeker in an age of propaganda?

Before beginning a discussion of a difficult subject about truth and propaganda, it is important to define the terms.

Truth is a very important word in the New Testament. In the Greek the noun, transliterated, is ALETHEIA.

ALETHEIA: “The reality lying at the basis of appearance; the manifested veritable essence of a matter”

W.E. Vine; Cremer

PROPAGANDA: “An organized programme of publicity, selected information etc. used to propagate a doctrine, practice, etc.; the information, doctrines, etc. propagated in this way, esp. regarded as misleading or dishonest”

Oxford English Reference Dictionary

As I work to be a truth-seeker, two important points stand out to me:

1. Truth (Aletheia) is connected to reality. It is quite dangerous to ignore truth because reality, by its nature, will win out.
2. Truth is not always easy to identify, since appearances may be misleading. Often appearances can be created by what people say.

With regards to propaganda, it is not the opposite of truth, but often is a caricature of it. As the definition indicates, propaganda uses publicity and selected information with an end in mind. They may want you to buy a product, vote for a particular party, censure some group, or believe a particular message. The publicity and selected information is chosen in order to get the audience to accept the teaching or take the steps desired.

So how do I become a truth-seeker in an age of propaganda? I think there are four steps that are important for me to take:

1. If I am given information driving me to a particular belief or action, argue against it. If the information is part of a propaganda initiative, the propagandists are likely telling me half-truths and omitting all counter arguments. If the information is true, I won’t find any compelling counter arguments and the information will become even more convincing.
2. Look for data and make the discussion about data. Often the most convincing propaganda is based on emotion, perhaps appeals to sympathy. That is to say, the propagandist avoids asking whether the statement under question is true or false. Instead they focus on how someone has been hurt or denigrated by the assertion.
3. Look at the presuppositions. In propaganda, often the assumptions behind the information is never discussed, much less critically evaluated. Yet the whole argument rests on the validity of these assumptions.
4. Become a two-column person. By that I mean, assume there is data for and against any position. If none is presented, as is often the case with propaganda, seek it out. Don’t be satisfied to leave one column empty.

Further reading: Lewis wrote a wonderfully lucid essay on BULVERISM. If you have it in your Lewis collection, it’s well worth reading.

I work to keep this blog free of advertisements for my readers by paying the WordPress subscription fees. If you’d like to support me why not check out one of my books? Don’t want to spend money on an author you’ve never read before, why not borrow one of my books using Hoopla from your favorite library? Use the link below with your library card to create a Hoopla account.

https://www.hoopladigital.com

A Focal Point for Meditations on the Cross

I thoroughly value and am inspired by Dr. Tim Keller’s messages (Doctor Keller is recently deceased). One short description of the uniqueness of the Cross and what it means to Christians has so impressed me that I have gone back to his short statements time and time again, not only at Easter, bu throughout the year.

If I may paraphrase, he pointed out that the Cross uniquely captures the message of the gospel. On the one hand, especially if i am feeling morally righteous, it reminds me that if i really understood all my motivations even behind my so called “best deeds,” I am so seriously flawed that God himself had to come down in the incarnation and die to rescue me. If that doesn’t take me down a few notches, then I’m not sure what will.

On the other hand, the Cross also shows how much God loves me (indeed all of us) and what he personally paid to redeem me. So the message of the Cross brings us to a place that engenders humility and, at the same time, a profound sense of how much God loves us.

An artist friend of mine, with a wonderfully creative mind, prepared a metal cross for me which has become the focal point of my meditations as a Christ-follower. If you are looking for original, unique metal artwork, I suggest you check out the link below. Perhaps you’ll discover something that’s as meaningful to you as this cross is to me.

https://www.metalriffic.com/gallery

If you are intrigued by my comments on Dr. Tim Keller’s messages and you have Spotify, you can readily listen to his teaching. I’m currently listening to a series where Dr. Keller is going through the Bible to show it has a single theme or message. He does so by looking at the first four chapters of Genesis, the first four chapters of Romans, and the last four chapters of Revelation.

Not To Be Taken Seriously

It is risky to publish humor on social media platforms, since there will always be a few, in a very large audience pool, who will find a way of casting the attempt at humor in an offensive light. I am hoping that occasionally posting something I found humorous will brighten someone’s day with a laugh or a chuckle.