Scotched Fusion

Reprint:  9 May 2013 at 2:39 am

James P. Hogan's Thrice Upon a Time is a subtly dramatic view of very real people in a very unreal and, at this point, alternative reality.I read this book when it first came out and had lost my copy over the years. Rereading it with older and more jaundiced eyes, I expected to fine it dated and a bit trite. Amazingly, it has held up extremely well. My purchase was a used first edition mass market, so the text was as pristine as available, yet it read like it might have been written last year. Hogan was careful to accommodate emerging trends in popular technology and produce a surprisingly coherent and *accurate* view of life in the 21st century.

By focusing on character and events rather than lengthy lectures on the underlying mytho-physica (pardon the coinage), he leads the reader to care enough to over looked the stilted narrative, produced by revisions in the timeline. While his concept of linear "universes" is a bit untenable, his realistic portrayal of scientists and engineers at work is seductive and leads one to suspend disbelief far more readily than for works that are better grounded in high energy physics and quantum mechanics.
Even there however he excels at predicting the trend in theory. His "closed system" and dark energy "leakage" as tau particles is as charming as Star Trek yet not entirely dismissible as "real" science.
In summary, if you haven't read it, read it. If you have read it, read it again. You'll likely find it as charming and fun as I did.

Hung by a Broken Limb

Reprint: 25 April 2013

I just saw Beautiful Creatures. I know this is a bit late, the movie has been out for a bit. However I am seldom in the mood to see a film, but this was an occasion. I think I've not recently seen a more offensive movie. The movie and I can only assume the book it was adapted from, begin by portraying every Christian in the south as an ignorant, bigoted, superstitious and powerless fraud.
This is juxtaposed against the sophistication, arrogance, hostility and chauvinism of the Casters, which is justified in light of the fact that the Casters are a superior race with real power that must be hidden to avoid persecution. Sound like the Hale Bop Comet Cult? Yeah it kinda does, only with creepy vines and freakish weather.
The entire story is designed to embitter the pagan against Bible based religions and to encourage insularity.

Critically Thinking

This is a new venture intended to provide a Full Gospel believer's perspective on art, film and, in particular, literature. I've been blessed to have had the opertunity to study literary criticism and computer science at Evangel University. You may never have Heard of her but she is a school with the academic rigor to have metriculation agreements and even partner in cooperative degree program with Washington University, one of the most academically rigorous and prestigious schools you may never have heard of.
Enough about my qualifications and on to the purpose. This blog, Library Secular, an oblique reference to the secular clergy of the Full Gospel movement, is intended to provide content ananlysis and creative criticism. This means that the literary quality, photography and filmation (where applicable), and moral or ethical themes will be sifted and reported as faithfully as possible.
I will primarily focus on SF&F (Science Fiction and Fantasy) because this is an area that is generally panned by believers out of a knee jerk reaction to worldly content. This is, in my opinion, a mistake since most of the philosophy of the Modern and Post Modern West has been encapsulated in this sort of genre' fiction. Mark Twain speaks to the ethics of more people than the heady cerebral pennings of De Carte or Nietzhe. I have some background in fine art so we may stray there, as well as music and anything else that has an impact on popular culture, but my focus will be to equip you with the tools to approach the world of popular fiction with open eyes and sound reason, without the knee jerk reaction that ignorance can breed.
If you are a believer with a desire to braoden your literary interests beyond the safe world of "Christian" literature or an industry professional seeking to reach rather than alienate the moral and ethically conservative believer, then you are my audience. What I say here may be hard. hard for readers as well as pros. But it will be reasoned and in keeping with my understanding of Biblical values. So hang on and hopefully this will be entertaining and informative and above all fun.