Hound Dog Harmonies: "Flood"

The Short

Song: Flood

Artist: Jars of Clay

Genre: Pop/Soft Rock

Listening Suggestion: While on your way to do something stressful.

Selected Lyrics

Rain rain on my face
It hasn't stopped
Raining for days
My world is a flood
Slowly I become
One with the mud


But if I can't swim after 40 days
And my mind is crushed
By the crashing waves
Lift me up so high
That I cannot fall
Lift me up
Lift me up when I'm falling
Lift me up I'm weak and I'm dying
Lift me up I need you to hold me
Lift me up and keep me from drowning again

You can find the music video at YouTube. Please pardon the 90's/ early 2000's feel. 

The Long

This is one of my favorite songs for when I'm having a rough day. It's perfect for the days when you feel like you've got nothing left. With the water imagery and the reference to 40 days, it calls to mind the story of Noah (or of Jesus in the wilderness) and the times God has saved his people in the past. 

The song also has a beautiful cello/strings section in the middle of it that accompanies the lyrics quite well. It's pretty suitable for most musical tastes (unlike some other songs I've featured). While it's not particularly heavy hitting theologically, it can be a nice pick me up on a hard day. 

What's your favorite song when you're having a bad day?

Computer Trouble

My computer was on the fritz most of last week (which is why there was no Friday Fiction Fix). Normal posting will resume this Friday once I have a chance to sit down and work on some articles. Thanks for your patience!

Reality, Meet Fiction: Transportation and Weather

Reality:

It's been a snowy winter here in the midwest and we aren't even in the depths of the season yet. This is the first year I've owned a car, so it's given me a new perspective on how weather affects transportation.

For college, I moved one state north. While we don't get terribly much more snow here than I did back home, peoples' attitudes are quite different. In my home state, we were regularly given updates on road conditions by county and the roads were sometimes completely closed to allow for the plow trucks to clear them faster. People tend to drive quite slowly and carefully. Mention of a snowstorm sends people running to the stores for bread and milk days in advance.

Here, people just charge out into the snow with seemingly no concern for their own safety. Snow plows are rarely seen (or used, from the looks of the roads some days). Traveling is entirely at your own discretion. Rather than using "rumble strips" (a textured strip of pavement that makes a loud noise when you drive over it) only on the sides of the road, they're present in between lanes/directions of traffic as well. And it's a good thing--you frequently can't see the lines on the pavement.

Fiction:

How can you leverage the intersection of travel and weather in your story? Does your character know how to drive on snow? Does the airport have de-icer for airplane wings? Do roads close down when it's snowy? Does the rental car come with an ice scraper to clear off the windshield? What are your characters' opinions of what weather is safe to travel in? Do characters in a certain region own different vehicles to make travel easier?

Of course, even space has weather. How do solar storms impact spaceflight? Does your galaxy have seasons of planet alignment that are more favorable for travel?

Friday Fiction Fix: "The Skin Map"

The Short:

The Skin Map

Bright Empires, Book 1

By: Stephen R. Lawhead

5/5 Stars

What: An unremarkable young man is sucked into interdimensional time travel by none other than his great-grandfather.

Recommended to those who like: Time travel, interdimensional travel, loosely Christian.

The Long:

I picked up this series mostly because I was intrigued by the cover of the last book, The Fatal Tree. I don't know that I would've picked up the series off of the title and description of The Skin Map, but I'm happy that I did! As usual, Mr. Lawhead brought a rich and poetic tale to his readers.

Kit Livingston is an average Londoner. He has a girlfriend, fights traffic on the subway, and trudges about his life without much enthusiasm--until his great-grandfather appears to him in a back alley.

Suddenly, his life is turned upside down. Following the mysterious ley lines, he is taken on an adventure through both time and space. But what starts out as a merry jaunt quickly turns dangerous--it turns out he and his great-grandfather aren't the only ones who know the secret of the ley lines. And those people will stop at nothing to get the most prized possession of the travelers, the skin map. 

What could've been a simple McGuffin-esque story turned into a multi-layered story that had some characters I truly cared about by the end. Some of those characters take surprising turns in their arcs and choices, which was delightful to read. 

The plot itself was engaging and kept me hanging onto every page. This was aided by rich writing--take it or leave it; the style may be a little extravagant for some tastes. 

I would consider the story loosely Christian in light of some of Lawhead's other works. It'll be interesting to see how (or if) he continues to develop that element throughout the rest of the series. 

The Bottom Line: I'd recommend The Skin Map to fans of weird fiction that goes off the map into time travel and urban legend. 

What's Your Character's Perfect Morning?

I'm on late shift, but I'm up early. I pet my dog absentmindedly, enjoying the warmth under the covers
before I have to crawl out into the cold. He starts grumbling at me after a few minutes of belly rubs, demanding his morning walk. I smile and grump back at him in a groggy, sleepy voice before throwing off the covers and hurrying off to the icy bathroom to dress for the day.

He's bouncy when I get back. Eight years hasn't dampened his spirit too much, though he's more reluctant to go out in the cold. It's warmer than it has been in weeks though, and I happily let him drag me down the salted steps into two inches of fresh, dense snow. It doesn't blow and drift like it has for the past few weeks. My boots nearly squelch into it, rather than sending up little powdery puffs of ice crystals that sting my hands and lungs.

The black and white beast at my side has a spring in his step, grateful for the relative warmth. He darts from tree to tree, leaving massive tracks in the snow that are hastily followed by my skidding boots. Sunrise, pastel with the promise of more snow, eases its way over the horizon, casting everything in a soft glow.

After our morning ritual is over, it's time to go home. We tromp up the steps and kick the powder off of our feet. The smell of coffee wafts out the door, but I have to feed the beast first. He happily crunches through his kibble and slurps down his water before my lunch is packed. I throw his ball a few times while I wait for my bagel to toast, then settle back in the recliner to watch the fat flakes drift down as I munch on my breakfast and sip my steaming hot coffee.

I have just enough time to read a chapter or two of a book, which I crack open. One hand holds warm coffee, the other the smooth pages of a paperback. The dog throws himself at my feet, and, lacking a third hand, I rub him through the thickness of my fuzzy socks. He sighs contentedly, and I match him. It's a brief pause in the silence of the snow before the day's mayhem begins.

Soon, there'll be beeping monitors and whining, anxious dogs. Hissing cats and barking surgeons. It'll be hard to reclaim this moment's peace and quiet. But for now, it's time to enjoy the moment and be thankful for it.

What would be your main character's favorite morning? 

What's your favorite sort of morning?

Sequel Review: "Heirs of Tirragyl"

As with all sequel reviews, I have attempted to keep this review spoiler-free. However, I would recommend picking up and reading Chains of Gwyndorr prior to reading this book. 

The Short

Heirs of Tirragyl

Poison Tree Path Chronicles, Book 2

By: Joan Campbell

4.5/5 Stars

What: Shara's on the run, but she faces a choice about where--and with whom--she will place her trust.

The Long

I was really looking forward to this sequel, and it didn't disappoint. Shara is really growing on me as a character, and I think we need more like her in Christian fiction. She wants to do the right thing, but she frequently trips herself up. It's a freshness much need in a genre that tends to be clogged with paper cut-outs who are too perfect to be true. 

Similarly, many of the characters we're introduced to in this book are just as well crafted. I love reading about their motives behind what they do and what makes them conflicted in their actions. Nyla, The Raven, and Elxa were engaging characters for me to read about. 

I really enjoyed the plot of this book and how it switched between the multiple story lines. It was always hard to tear myself away from the pages and I was almost always eager to return. 

The Christian element in this book was slightly more pronounced in this book, but it avoided hitting you over the head with a sledgehammer or becoming preachy. I look forward to how that plot element will continue to develop in the final installment.

This book does contain some themes that are more suitable to teens and up (visiting bars with scantily clad women to find leads on other characters, trained assassins who have interesting views on morals, etc.). However, the writing style is very straightforward--perhaps a little too much at times. (Okay, so I've been on a Tolkien streak lately with my reading and it's spoiled me). 

The Bottom Line: An engaging fantasy with excellent characters and Christian undertones, I'd recommend Heirs of Tirragyl to fantasy fans who are looking for plot and characters over flowery prose.