Review of SPACETUG COPENHAGEN
Spacetug Copenhagen by Richard Penn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ever wondered what could be accomplished in terms of space exploration if a group of interested engineers and space enthusiasts pooled all of their resources, forgot about the risk, and simply tried to do as much as they could with the technology available today? Richard Penn in his novella Spacetug Copenhagen walks the reader through the steps involved. If you are interested in science and like to see it used to perfection in science fiction then I highly recommend this short book.
Now That the Movie THE SHACK is Coming Out in theaters …
I published this post a while ago when I first read The Shack. The original post was lost when my WordPress server had to be decommissioned. Now that the movie version is coming out, this may be of interest.
‘The Shack’ by William P. Young
Warning: If you haven’t read The Shack and are planning to read it, leave this review until later since I do discuss the content.
My overall rating is 4 stars. The Shack is a thought-provoking book well worth reading.
The Shack is a novel that tackles very difficult questions in a way that puts the reader in the very middle of the action and challenges him to tackle the questions in a personal way..
Mackenzie Allen Phillips lost his young daughter to a serial killer. MacKenzie called this trauma, which tormented his life, THE GREAT SADNESS. One day he receives a letter from Papa (his wife’s personal name for God) that invites Mackenzie to meet ‘Papa’ at the shack in the woods where Missy, his daughter, was brutally murdered. The shack is the last place in the world he wants to go, but eventually he decides to go without telling his wife.
God appears as three people (Papa, Jesus and another woman called Sarayu (wind)). Mackenzie is able to watch them interact, watch them serve him, and answer his questions. What Young achieves are scenes that are not simplistic, but rather convey to the readers the complexity of fashioning and then sustaining a world that has free will, independent agents that make moral choices (e.g. human beings) and God. Although God is All Powerful and Good yet He still has to work within His own rules and His own character and honor the free choices made by human beings.
For me, this book caused me to think about who God is and how simplistic my own caricatures of Him are because of the unconscious assumptions I bring to the table when I think about Him. For example, as C. S. Lewis has pointed out somewhere, in God moral character and will must coincide in some fashion. For human beings, morality is something objective that is above us, and we have a duty to obey these moral imperatives. However, if God had moral imperatives in the same sense we have, then He wouldn’t be God, since the moral law would be above Him. On the other hand if moral law were simply an invention by God, it would be arbitrary. As I read the book, I had to grapple with this conundrum. I saw that this fusion of morality and will in God is one of the things that puts Him beyond my understanding.
If you go to amazon.com, and read comments on this book, you will find many that laud it, and some that most emphatically do not. Some of the objections are theological. Respondents argue that the book fails to properly account for some point of theology. I think that claim is fair, but it misses the point. Young has written a novel and wanted to bring us into an interaction with the person of God in a new way. I think it is better to learn what one can from the book, without trying to make it into a theological treatise.
If you’ve read the book or watched the movie, I would like to know what you thought of it.
Review of GOOD FAITH by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
Good Faith: Being a Christian When Society Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme by David Kinnaman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
David Kinnaman is president of Barna Group, a leading research and communications company that works with churches. Along with his co-author Gabe Lyons, Kinnaman and Lyons use a host of polling data to build the case that Christians are viewed as extreme and irrelevant by American society.
Kinnaman and Lyons then go on to describe, based on their own investigations, the best way for churches to fulfill their historic mission of following the teaching of Christ while benefiting society and relating to a society given that they are painted as extreme and irrelevant. Churches ought to continue to contribute to the betterment of society as a whole through their charitable work.
Every church that I have been a part of over the years has, of course, done this to some degree (my wife and I have had fellowship with many different denominations in Canada), but now a church’s participation in a charitable event either alone or in partnership with others will almost never be recognized as such by the media. The church’s involvement will either be unrecognized altogether or the charitable activity will be treated as if it is unrelated to the church’s main mission (of course it is not). The message for me is to recognize this charitable connection in other church organizations and to point it out, since the media will not.
For me the most helpful discussion was found in Chapter 7 on how to respond to modern secularism which works to banish all religious expression from the public square on the grounds the very presence of religious expression would be offensive to some members of the public. Kinnaman and Lyons advocate on behalf of a view by John D. Inazu which is called Confident Pluralism or Principled Pluralism. A metaphor of a potluck dinner is used to explain this concept. Everyone is able to bring their best and favorite dish to the potluck, but no one is required to try any dish. So everyone, regardless of their World View is allowed to participate and present their best in the public sphere but no one is required to subscribe to that view or participate in whatever activity that view engenders. This has been helpful for me but means we all need to champion access to the public sphere for all views, not just our own.
In summary, I had some points of disagreement with the authors, but I appreciated their data-driven approach to the subject. Their description of Principled Pluralism as a common ground in the public sphere was most helpful. I very much recommend this book to others.
View all my reviews
Bad News – The Audio Version of THE HALCYON DISLOCATION Won’t be Coming Out Anytime Soon
I received some bad news yesterday. I learned from my publisher that the vendor that was producing the audio version of The Halcyon Dislocation has declared bankruptcy (I don’t even know the vendor’s name). This is particularly unfortunate since the editing of the audio edition was 98% complete (as I understand it, even after the audio editing is complete, there was still a good deal of post editing processing to do before it would be ready for download and sale). The only significant piece missing was an audio list of the dormitories at Halcyon University that were all named after famous philosophers. Unfortunately many of the unusual names were mispronounced in the last audio mp3 and needed to be corrected.
In all of this, I must say my partnership publisher Word Alive Press has acted with grace and integrity. I appreciate this very much, since this was their loss as much as it was mine (perhaps more so). Going through this painful experience has underlined for me why I remain a loyal partner of Word Alive Press.
I’m going to go through my various bios and descriptions to look for places where I had promised that the audio version of The Halcyon Dislocation will be coming out soon so that I can delete those expressions of hope and avoid raising unrealistic expectations. I will do my best to be thorough, but if I miss one or two, I hope my readers will be understanding.
A Response to Stuart Aken’s Blog on “Why are we required to respect religion?”
Images of Religious Symbols courtesy of Wikimedia
Writer Stuart Aken, in his blog entitled I’d Like to Know: Why? #3 Religion, asks the provocative question: “Why are We Required to Respect Religion?” This question is of interest to me as a Christ-follower (even though I would not characterize myself as religious—I know other people would characterize me in that way).
As I thought about Mr. Aken’s blog, it led me to think about how the phrasing of the question channels the responses that this question elicits. It’s always handy to set up a contest or a discussion so that only one side is given the bows and arrows while the other is left only with a shield. It’s like a Canadian or American football game where the rules of the contest allow only one team to play offence (and hence is best set up to score points) while the other is perpetually on defense. I think such a rule-based asymmetry is neither sporting nor does it readily necessarily let the better team prevail.
If one looks at the question in its current form, then Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and other adherents of a religion are on trial to justify their beliefs and explain why their beliefs merit respect, but atheists, agnostics, materialists, and secularists are excluded from scrutiny by the form of the question itself.
It seems to me a more instructive and fairer form of the question would be: “Why should I respect the World View of others when their World View differs from my own?” In this context I use “World View” to mean how I and others view reality. I think this re-configuring of the question has important advantages:
1. Now everyone, religious and agnostic alike has a chip in the game and has beliefs that may be called into question.
2. It ought to be understood that everyone intrinsically believes that their World View best explains the real world (material and spiritual).
3. Any criticism that is leveled at another World View can also properly be asked of one’s own. So if one asks if religious world views are prone to violence, one has to ask if one’s own World View is different in this regard and why.
4. In this kind of a discussion, if one begins to believe that many of the key things one genuinely believes about the nature of reality are wrong, this will be a very unsettling development for everyone who experiences it—not just religious people.
5. Finally, I think it prevents participants in the discussion from making the disastrous mistake of assuming that all religions are really the same, merely because they are religions. Even within a religion there may be substantial differences in World View by adherents because of differences in emphasis, in interpretation of sacred texts, in theology, or by reconciliation with other sources of evidence.
Thank you Mr. Aken for raising this important topic. Perhaps as time becomes available, I will be able to give my perspective on some of the other follow-on questions you raised in your post.
Peter’s Review of THE KINGDOM: HERE BE DRAGONS, HERE BE DREAMS
The Kingdom: Here Be Dragons, Here Be Dreams by Joanne Rolston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoy reading independent works by authors who are beginning their writing journey. The combination of autobiography and fantasy (my favorite genre) intrigued me. I thought I would give Rolston’s book a chance and I was delighted. The book is well-written and immediately drew me in. Once I started I could not put it down. I rated it a four out of five stars meaning I enjoyed it enough to read again and again.
Why did I like it so much? It has been difficult to put it into words. On reflection I think I was intrigued that I was reading about real-life events that happened to a real person. On the other hand, it was written in the third person and so gave an analytical and objective perspective that I appreciated. It was filled with many remarkable occurrences that Materialists would ascribe to improbable coincidence and Christ-followers to providence. Mirroring the objective description of what was happening in the “seen world” was the insightful interaction with the King in the unseen world. The interweaving of the two was a delight and very thought-provoking for me.
In summary I would highly recommend this book whether you have an interest in the spiritual or not. It provides a profound and exciting view of one person’s life, both trauma and triumphs. It provides insight into the role the unseen plays in some people’s lives. I recommend it without reservation.
Why Not Enter a Free Book Giveaway for THE HALCYON DISLOCATION?
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Halcyon Dislocation
by Peter Kazmaier
Giveaway ends February 17, 2017.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Beware of Predatory Pricing by Some Vendors of THE HALCYON DISLOCATION
I recently received a question from an interested customer who wanted to buy The Halcyon Dislocation as a Christmas gift, a question guaranteed to warm the heart of any author. When she checked on my Amazon author site, she saw the Kindle edition of The Halcyon Dislocation for $3.99, but at that time the only printed copy she saw was listed for $92.48 USD (I think the vendor promised shipping for only $3.99). Her question to me was “What gives here? Why is a $3.99 Kindle book listing for $92.48?” Great question. My books lists for $24.99 CAD (since I’m a Canadian author and the book is printed in Canada). I didn’t take a screen capture at the time, but here’s one from today:
The Paperback price is somewhat lower today than before Christmas, but still almost four times the list price. What’s going on and how does one get at least the list price (vendors like Amazon sometimes have sales prices which are much better than the list).
If one clicks on the Kindle edition then …
After clicking on the Kindle Version
Only now do you see the much more reasonable list price of $24.99. So where did these $80-$90 prices come from? I contacted my publisher, Word Alive Press and their representative did not know. The simple answer appears to be that there are vendors who can list at any price they choose and somehow their offerings can appear very high up in the on-line listing. When I discussed this on my author site on Goodreads, I was contacted by another author who speculated that for relatively rare books (I didn’t think of The Halcyon Dislocation as a rare book), there are vendors who attempt to sell books at inflated prices and if they get a hit they simply buy a copy at the list price and take home a tidy profit with no inventory. In the case of my author colleague, his textbook which lists for $79.95 was offered for $450. His theory may be correct. if one clicks on the expensive version and then on the box “see all buying options” :
Then one can pull up a list of vendors that offer to sell The Halcyon Dislocation listed in order of decreasing price:
As an author who is trying to make a name for himself, I wish I could offer a 326 page trade paperback like The Halcyon Dislocation for much less than $24.99 (as I do with the Kindle edition at $3.99) however with Print-On-Demand costs that is not really feasible. However, to me, charging $80 or $90 dollars for a book that with one click would let the reader buy it for $25 is predatory, and takes advantage of a customer’s inexperience with internet sales.
THE HALCYON DISLOCATION featured on Kay MacLeod’s Indie Advent Calendar
My novel The Halcyon Dislocation was featured on December 19th on Kay MacLeod’s Indie Advent Calendar. Why not check it out?
Wishing You a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year
Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to family, friends, and readers. What’s behind this picture of a bridge over a castle dry moat? Find out what’s new with author Peter Kazmaier and his writing.
