In college I took novel writing with a friend whose goal was to compose a grand space opera.  Ever week he would bring in a new chapter, and every week he would be at least one step closer to his goal.  The semester went by, and we spent hours bouncing our story ideas off of one another at the campus restaurant and were both as thrilled by our own created worlds as we were by each other’s.  A few months later we passed the class with partial works on our hands.  While mine languished in the netherworld of my computer hard-drive, he took it upon himself to continue what he’d begun.

It was a project he’d spent countless hours on – penning a history to his universe, character backgrounds, alien societal backgrounds, not to mention the actual prose of the work itself.  And, having read pieces of it myself, I can say that his hard work was really paying off.  It was compelling, had likeable characters, an intriguing plot and a diverse and well traversed galaxy.

Every once in a while, someone at Infuze will write a review of one of their very favorite books.  Emily Zenker from the Books Department continues this series with a review of one of her all-time favorites, 1066 and All That by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman.

 

History – it’s that dreaded subject filled with dates and names that few people remember and even fewer care about. And the books we’re forced to read about it in school? Most of us can’t deny that we forsook our textbooks with a shudder as soon as we were finished with them. History often seems doomed to dwell in dry, lengthy pages from required-reading lists. So where does 1066 and All That (originally published in 1930), a self-declared “travesty of English history,” fit into the canon of historical textbooks? Answer: it doesn’t. And it doesn’t want to.

First off, authors W.C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman open the book in the spirit of full disclosure: “The object of this History is to console the reader. No other history does this.” With a whimsical approach to the actual concept of history (“It’s what you can remember”), the book manages to completely bypass typical historical fare and focus on what people really recall of it. In other words, no boring details need apply.

Love Found Magazine ? 

 

Davy and Peter Rothbart, the creators of the magazine, are currently on tour to promote the release of the fifth latest edition of Found.  Found is a magazine and website dedicated to the fascinating things people lose or leave behind.  Notes, letters, shopping lists, photos, book inscriptions, and more fill the pages of the magazine and the archives of the website.  Check out the site for their tour dates!

 

Also, don't miss Davy Rothbart's upcoming documentary, My Heart is an Idiot , which is partially about the elusive nature of love and looks both awesome and entertaining.

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In a new report released by the National Endowment for Arts , it appears that the reading habits of young adults have steadily declined over the past twenty years. Faced with the choice between watching TV and spending time reading for leisure, Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 consistently choose the television. In fact, studies seem to indicated that youth spend a mere 7 minutes reading for every two hours watching their favorite shows.
 
For those who do opt to put down the remote and pick up a book, better job opportunities and more involvement with their community are the rewards. According to David Gioia, chairmen for the arts endowment, over 60 percent of the young adults holding managerial or professional jobs are proficient readers. Also, good readers are 30 percent more likely than those with poor reading skills to vote and to volunteer their time in community efforts. Sounds like a good incentive for parents, teachers, and politicians alike to promote better reading skills!

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With three thousand books published daily—daily—in the U.S., there’s a lot of sand to sift in the hunt for gold. Last week Publishers Weekly chose 150 titles from the 6,000 it reviewed in 2007 (in print and online) and named them the top books for the year. (See “PW’s Best Books of the Year” by Staff, 11/5/07 ).

The PW categories were fiction, poetry, nonfiction, comics, religion, lifestyle and children’s. In the religion nonfiction category, Rob Bell’s Sex God (Zondervan) was one of 15 books chosen and the only book from an evangelical publisher (although Virginia Stem Owens, an evangelical, is also named for her Caring for Mother: A Daughter’s Long Good-Bye from Westminster John Knox). In the religious fiction category, Feeling for Bones by Bethany Pierce (Moody) and Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson (Thomas Nelson) got the nod.

 

Here are the titles from those two categories: 

From time to time, Infuzemag.com will review a book and the movie based on it in tandem. Here we bring you one such tandem review. Be sure to check out Tess Cox’s review of the film version of Martian Child.

David is certainly not the typical adoptive father.  In fact, he is atypical to the point that he worries it might jeopardize his chances of being able to adopt: he’s a single, gay man and a middle-aged science fiction writer.  But when he sees the Polaroid of a little boy named Dennis a scrapbook of kids who have been officially declared “difficult to place,” he knows immediately that Dennis is meant to be his little son.

It’s a good match, anyway, because Dennis believes he is a Martian.  What could be more perfect for a science fiction writer than having an alien child? 

She was discovered covered in mud on the banks of the Thronscall River, a mere child not more than "two seasons," according to Krawg, a Gatherer. He and his partner, one-eyed Warney, discovered the mysterious child while investigating the ruckus produced by a flock of crows. Their unexpected find puts them in a bind. They are Gatherers, outcasts from House Abascar, forced to live outside the protective walls of the kingdom until their criminal sentences have been repaid and grace is granted to them by King Cal-marcus.

 

If the two known as the "One-Eyed Bandit" and the "Midnight Swindler" turn her over to a duty officer, they'll be accused of kidnapping, with punishment in the dungeons to follow. But if they leave her where she is, which they have ascertained is within a large footprint, one of the toes to be exact, then a duty officer will ride over top of her and "stomp her into the ground." So the two old thieves do the only thing that is left to do. They take the baby back to the Gatherers' village and hide her. That one small act is like a pebble thrown into a pond. As the ripples emanate outward, they will grow in strength, changing the Gatherers, House Abascar and reaching into the Expanse.

During a momentary lull in the last couple of days, I found myself wondering about the true value of the different things I’ve become involved in lately. Different church activities, events, and working full-time had all been adding up to a large daily to-do list and I’d been running around busily for a while now. But during a few quiet moments, I started thinking, how many of my constant comings and goings were born out of a desire to do what God wants me to spend my time doing?

The reason for this self-examination was a book I had been reading: Real Christianity by William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was a British parliamentary member in the 1900's that played a major role in the demise of the English slave trade. He was not just an eloquent advocate of racial justice, but also a gifted writer with a hunger for spiritual truth. Tired of the pretentious and insincere religiosity he saw around him, he pursued a faith that was both intimate and relevant.

The town of Skary, Indiana has fallen on hard times since its leading citizen, horror author Wolfe Boone, quit his genre and became a married man. But the residents of Skary aren't the only ones whose fortunes have fallen since Wolfe's departure from the horror scene. His agent, Alfred Tennison, hit rock bottom when Wolfe found Jesus and lost the bestseller list drive.  He's now a freelance editor, making enough money to afford a modest place in Manhattan. But for reasons Alfred can't fathom, Skary keeps luring him back, where he'll stay for indefinite periods. Hard to tolerate the rest of the year, Skary is becoming unbearable with all of its way-to-early-for-Alfred Christmas cheer.

Alfred may be Scrooge in disguise, but for Lois Stepaphanopolis this will be a Christmas like no other. An epiphany during her community college acting class shifted her creative gears into overdrive. Skary will do a Christmas pageant! Lois, the play's director and brain child, is also the sheriff's girlfriend, and she's a genius. The play will be based on A Christmas Carol, a little known work by the underappreciated writer Charles Dickens. Lois is determined to rectify this grievous wrong by producing her own play. With her vision. And no one on the face of the earth has vision like Lois. It's safe to say no one will recognize her interpretation of Dickens – not even Dickens himself.

Be sure to check out Vicki McCollum's interview of Sigmund Brouwer and Hank Hanegraaff on the Books Department Page , the men behind Fuse of Armageddon.  They discuss end-times theology and politics, the dangers of end-times literature, and why they felt it was important to write their book.

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