Category Archives: Library
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.
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.
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 BlogIt’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/
A Review of Dinesh D’Souza’s Audio Book 2000 MULES
I use the library site, Hoopla, a great deal and was excited to learn that Dinesh D’Souza’s audio book, 2000 Mules was available for loan. Although I had followed the data presented in the trailer for the film 2000 Mules with great interest and thus knew the basis for the claims that were made in the film, I found the much greater level of detail in the audio book provided a wealth of new information.
In the audio book D’Souza provides the context for what happened in the 2020 election by reviewing the some 400 court cases launched prior to the election to weaken mail-in ballot laws across the US, weaken signature and ID laws, and broaden the number of mail-in ballots that were mailed out without voter request.
Then authentication of mail-in ballots was weakened further on the eve of the election and during the ballot counting when Secretaries of State set aside or refused to enforce existing laws to “speed-up” tabulation. All of this set the stage for “mules” that is to say “collectors and depositors of ballots into drop boxes.”
D’Souza makes a compelling case linking the geo-tracking data legally purchased by True The Vote in key swing states with very narrow margins of victory, to anonymous phone IDs which could be tracked to same drop box locations ten times or more. This data also linked visits to election NGOs prior to dropping off the ballots. Although, True the Vote could only obtain a fraction of the drop box video that should have been available, they were still able to use video to identify the “mule” dropping off multiple ballots and link them to the geo-tracking data.
In summary this is compelling audio book and I recommend that anyone who wants to consider this information, regardless of your views on the 2020 election, take the six hours to listen to this evidence.
Link to True the Vote: https://www.truethevote.org/about/
A Personal Note
As a Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy author, in some senses “I don’t have a horse in this US election race.” From that perspective I’m merely reviewing another interesting book. However, as America’s northern neighbor, Canada has a vested interest in what happens in the US. Furthermore, Canadians have their own serious concerns about our electoral system. Although I have no reason, at this point, to believe we suffer from widespread cheating, I could easily see our leading party, who seems to believe they are the natural ruling party because of their longstanding electoral success, taking steps to “fortify the Canadian vote.” I hope it never happens, but it is a concern to me.
Having said that, there is one point over which I disagree with Mr. D’Souza. As he reviewed the many critiques of the 2020 election put forth by others, D’Souza put great emphasis on finding evidence sufficiently strong to overcome the presumed innocence-imposed high conviction standard of “reasonable doubt” (a most worthy principle of democratic jurisprudence).
To me this analysis by Mr. D’Souza misses the point. From Plutarch comes the saying: “Uxorem Caesaris tam suspicione quam crimine carere oportet” (Caesar’s wife should be free from suspicion, as well as from accusation). I think the same must be said of elections in Canada and the United States. They must not only be free of compelling evidence that demands a conviction, but they must also be free of suspicion. If conduct by election officials and overseeing agencies is of such a character that the public loses confidence in the integrity of the election process, and begins to believe cheating and cover-ups are going on, then the damage has already been done. That destruction of confidence, it seems to me, happens long before one crosses the threshold of “beyond reasonable doubt.”
THE HALCYON DISLOCATION Has Just Listed on Hoopla
If you’re interested in trying a new author, but don’t know if their writing is consistent with your taste, why not try a book from a library? The Halcyon Dislocation, the first book in The Halcyon Cycle, a Science Fiction story that reads like Fantasy, has just been listed by Hoopla, a major library lending service.
Here is the North America coverage map for Hoopla, https://www.zeemaps.com/view?group=661471 .
So, if you have library privileges at the Seeley’s Bay Public Library, the Lyndhurst Public Library, or the Lansdowne Public Library, why not download The Halcyon Dislocation and give the book a try?
THE HALCYON DISLOCATION is now Available at the Toronto Public Library as an e-Book
Max Planck paved the way for the quantum understanding of small particle behavior. He also defined a concept later named after him: Planck Time. Planck Time is unit of time defined only in terms of universal constants. This is a SciFi story about what happens at intervals shorter than Planck Time.
The University of Halcyon Physics Department is researching force fields on behalf of the Defense Department. Unfortunately the first large scale test goes awry. The whole university is learning some surprising things about Planck Time.
Find the book in the Toronto Public Library catalog and check availability … link
THE HALCYON CYCLE is now Available as eBooks at the Calgary Public Library
Although I prefer holding a real book to reading a book on my smart phone, I have found e-books particularly useful for library borrowing. They allow waiting lists and automatic retrieval (no more pesky library fines).
I am gratified to point out to my friends in Calgary, that THE HALCYON CYCLE books are now available in e-book format at the Calgary Public Library … if you haven’t read, for example, THE DRAGONS OF SHEOL, why not check it out there for free?
Peter Kazmaier - Author 