Christian publishing has crossed a barrier with the publication of The Death and Life of Gabriel Phillips.
For starters, this story is compelling. Told through the narration of Andy Myers' son. The son he never wanted, I might add. Narration is not my favorite point of view because it tends to lack intimacy. But I connected with the characters in Death and Life. I also love crime fiction and Death and Life is full of cop/legal drama. The writing is creative and easy to read and the story is positively page turning.
I mentioned that Christian publishing has crossed a barrier with this story because the dialogue is peppered with raw language -- think PG-13. I am not super offended by language and am able to watch or read something and not get caught up in coarseness if the story is compelling enough. Death and Life is full of three, four and five letter words that will stomp on sensitive toes.
Interestingly, I've seen a lot of debate in Christian author loops that discusses this issue and the challenge of writing real and raw when the characters are limited to "Aw, shucks, Ma'am." The fact that Stephen Baldwin has opened the door is going to ease things for the storytellers who want to write real if it includes raw. The bottom line consensus in this debate seems to be that story does rule. And in this case, The Death and Life of Gabriel Phillips shares a story that is worth reading.
And I missed it by....drum roll........... Wait, let me digress for a moment.
Okay. The Wii I missed by a hundred. That I dealt with by going to a local store and actually finding one on the shelf. Take that E-Bay entrepreneurs.
The items I won were great deals. Three out of twenty and counting. But they were a bit of work. I think we could call it sweat equity. Very stressful watching to make sure someone doesn't swoop in and beat you by a few dollars.
Today was a crazy busy day. I checked once, three hours to go it looked like I still had the winning bid.
Then, I checked my e-mail. The dreaded notice. I lost it by a ....resume drum roll.... a stinking dollar!!!!!
Grrr.
Now I'm determined. And I'm really going to dig deep. Chocolate brown, great-priced comforters/quilts, consider yourself on notice. You are hunted and fair game. Do not make me send Josh after you.
I had never even gone to the iconic and culturally shaping empire known as E-Bay...until the search for something very specific sent me Googling and eventually to the E of the Bay. I am now no longer an E-Bay novice. I've bid, and bid and bid, watched dozens of similar products and purchased three things. I've lost even more. And not just what I was bidding on. I'm talking time, baby. This could become an issue.
On my short cut trip to home I encountered a trotting turkey. Apparently, the little fellow is brave or very, very stupid. Since he hurtled out in front of my van, I'm voting for stupid. You should have seen the drumsticks on that little bugger.
Mouth-watering? Well, that's probably because you didn't see the rest of him. Let's just say childish art work is very flattering compared to the real thing.
Now. I have to get back to E-Bay. I'm bidding on some bedding. Twenty-one hours and five minutes to go. Baby needs that chocolate brown bed-set!
Shortcuts are all well and good. I'm a big fan of them. I take one to work nearly every day. Which brings me to my rant.
Drivers. If you are taking a route that is a shortcut for you...then play by the rules.
Said shortcut is 25 mph. Not a suggestion! Sure, you save a few minutes because there is near-zero traffic on the winding, winding road that really kind of deserves the 25 mph rating because of wildlife, and did I mention windings?
Getting pulled over by one of the delightful police officers who sometimes pull off into one of the many hiding places decreases the time saved on shortcut. As does an accident because you have your nose buried in the car-in-front-of-you's biz-ness.
For the record, that's my green van you are kissing. And as much as you HOPE the speed limit has changed overnight, let's just say that Hope is a town in Minnesota, and you are sniffing up the wrong bumper.
