Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving.
I did.
I kind of slept in.
Went for a quick walk with the hounds.
Peeled and mashed many potatoes.
Drank delicious coffee.
Cleaned my closet. (Yep. Got a good start on the crazy Kelly Klepfer cleaning method.)
Watched Rob formulate kitchen plans and put them on paper. Then he pounded, sawed and completed a small "foundational" job that he'd been putting off and which is keeping him from completing the fun stuff.
Rode to a lovely home which I did not have to clean. To eat delicious food that I did not have to prepare. Enjoyed conversation with people I'm pretty darn fond of.
A very, very lovely day.
What haunting legacy awaits deep beneath the barrios and wealthy enclaves of Southern California?
An idyllic Spanish mission collapses in the eighteenth century atop the supernatural evidence of a shocking crime. Twelve generations later the ground is opened up, the forgotten ruins are disturbed, and rich and poor alike confront the onslaught of resurging hell on earth. Caught up in the catastrophe are...
· A humble shopkeeper compelled to leave her tiny village deep in Mexico to preach in America
· A minister wracked with guilt for loving the wrong woman
· An unimaginably wealthy man, blinded to the consequences of his grand plans
· A devoted father and husband driven to a horrible discovery that changes everything
Will the evil that destroyed the Misión de Santa Dolores rise to overwhelm them? Or will they beat back the terrible desires that led to the mission's good Franciscan founder's standing in the midst of flames ignited by his enemies and friends alike more than two centuries ago?
From the high Sierra Madre mountains to the harsh Sonoran desert, from the privileged world of millionaire moguls to the impoverished immigrants who serve them, Athol Dickson once again weaves a gripping story of suspense that spans centuries and cultures to explore the abiding possibility of miracles.
Product Details:
List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Howard Books, Simon & Schuster (September 15, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1416583475
ISBN-13: 978-1416583479
About Athol Dickson:
Athol Dickson is an award-winning author of several novels. His Christy Award-winning novel River Rising was name one of the "Top Ten Christian Novel of 2006" by Booklist magazine. He lives in California with his wife.
Dickson's They Shall See God was a Christy Award finalist. River Rising was selected as one of the Booklist Top Ten Christian Novels of 2006 and was a Christianity Today's Best Novel of 2006 finalist. Both River Rising and The Cure won Christy Awards for best suspense novel.
His latest novel, Winter Haven was a finalist for the 2009 Christy Award in the suspense category, making four novels in a row to receive
that honor.
And now Athol is back with a gripping tale with an epic sense of the passage of time and the way events and choices impact people across generations.
Visit his website for more information. Dickson also participated in the Dregs Q & A...click here to read it.
What people are saying...
Athol Dickson is a breath of fresh air in a market that is often saturated by manufactured plots, spurious characters, and inauthentic spiritual conversions. Lost Mission is redemptive storytelling at its highest level and once again Dickson proves that he is a true master of the craft.
-Jake Chism, Fiction Addict
The story is filled with compassion and truly reaches to the heart of human kind and it's frailities and reminds us that we are not alone and that God will direct us if we choose to follow his ways and not our own selfish desires. And when we sin we can ask for and recieve His forgivness. This is such a beautiful story that you simply MUST read.
-Kim C., Book Reviews Today
Seattle, WA - Critically acclaimed author, Athol Dickson's writing has been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler (Publisher's Weekly), Daphne du Maurier (Cindy Crosby, Christianity Today fiction critic) and Flannery O'Connor (The New York Times).
"In his new release, the ultimate storyteller invites us to join him as he spins a tale of grand visions and dismal failures. Four people, sensing a compulsion to do something great for God, learn greatness is not something God calls any of us to; transparency and faithfulness are."
t.e. george, amazon.com reviewer
My thoughts:
I really wanted to read this novel. I've not read Athol Dickson before but had heard great things about him. When a review copy was offered to me, I jumped on it. But then the book came and I read the back cover. "Hmmm." I thought. "Well, I'll get to it eventually." And then I set the book down. The subject did not appeal. But then came the blog tour and I needed to be able to say something about the book. So I opened it.
Two strikes right away. One is the omniscient tone of the story. For some reason that's my least favorite point of view. Second was the abundance of names within the first few pages. I have trouble keeping track of too many characters and too soon into a book and I'm annoyed.
Then I got into the story and wow, this man can write. The praise and awards are well-deserved.
The story is two distinct yet similar stories unfolding in the same location, two centuries apart. Two characters choose to love the lost at the cost of their own moral compass, two characters choose love of laws and rules over loving people, and two characters struggle with caring deeply about the events unfolding and feeling helpless to do anything about those events.
Changing centuries threw me the first chapter but then it became more clever and clearer and the omniscient point of view added greatly to the seamless weaving of events. The characters were all important and as I read Dickson made sure that I knew enough about them that they became easy to remember and know. So much for my complaints. From there it's just a great, thought-provoking read. And challenging. I saw myself in each of the characters. Not necessarily a positive thing and it required me to face some of the issues in my life and how I might need to tweak my thinking a bit. Did I mention it's fascinating as well? An outbreak of some horrific disease/plague (assuming it was small pox) decimates as does fire. Dickson is an artist with words and characters. I've not read such fresh prose in quite awhile.
I'm recommending it to anyone. However, don't expect to be untouched by the story. It's not an easy one to read or digest. And it's not a mindless beach read either. Action lovers could struggle with the slower pace. Literary lovers should put it on their Christmas list.
The Saturday adventure was a photo shoot for dogs.
Yup.
Twenty-three wanted some professional pictures of her double-troubles.
We hauled a bag full of props and helps to a local park and met our photographer friends.
The pictures are ones I snapped while attempting to keep peace. Many other photos, most that displayed various scenarios of "what were we thinking poses."
In order to photograph in shady spots to avoid the annoying shadow issues, terrain challenges cropped up.
Big ones.
Pictured is the photographer slowing while falling down the hill. Twenty-three saved her. Probably because she wanted the whole roll of her babies.
Yes, adventure it was, with many blurred photos as a subject decided to lurch for the dangling treat reward for sitting and staying. One-at-a-time close-ups required many face cleanings because the treats caused faucet drooling behavior and the lurching, lunging and pacing ended up pasting slime trails on a dog sibling face.
Double shots were even more of a challenge. When one looked obediently at the camera, the other would pull out a psycho-squirrel face or would lunge the opposite direction.
But, we should have some keepers.
And we definitely have some stories.
I think Kim's comment on yesterday's post concisely sums up my thoughts. But since I'm currently in ramble mode...I will continue to do so.
I blog because I can connect with others on a different level than in my day-to-day, face-to-face connections. I've discovered that I have had some pretty honest heart-to-heart conversations with folks I've never met and maybe never will on this earth.
Deeper conversations, at times, than with those friends I could drop in on right now if I felt like it. I met one of my best friends through an online critique group. And as we shredded each others' work, we discovered that what we had in common was greater than writing fiction. Others have become intimate strangers. I've had strangers contact me and ask me to pray for them. That is kind of an awesome and humbling blessing. Still others have lashed out at me. One man wrote a hate-filled e-mail that horrified me and then made me stop and remember that words have power. He was reacting to what my words stirred up in him.
I blog because I have peace and I want others to find it, too. (See, that's how the topic of peace turned into three days of rambling with barely a mention of peace.) I have peace because I have God's mercy, grace and love. And frankly, life can STINK like an outdoor garbage can full of plastic bags full of dog poo on a freakishly hot August afternoon. If I can post something that makes anybody laugh through the stink, or rethink the stink, or move beyond the stink, then that's what I want to do. Sometimes we just need to know we aren't alone on this hurtling orb. Sometimes we need to see the truth through a different lens. Sometimes we need to escape from the stink and recharge. That is what blogging has become to me. A chance to share something, anything that may make a little bit of a difference in someone's life.
Maybe that's not so far from where I started. And that takes the pressure off. I'm not pretending to be what I'm not in an attempt to impress someone who might send me a contract.
Okay. I feel better.
Serenity now. Have a wonderful weekend. The weather in Iowa is amazing. Blue skies, sunshine and in the 60's. The dogs and I walked already. I've posted my blog post for the day. I have my Bible sitting next to me waiting for me to spend a little time with it. I'm selling some jewelry tonight. Dinner is done. And the things that are sad and twisted in my little world are things I can give to my Jesus. And that is something I'm planning to do right now.
But somewhere along the way. This drive to be published has dwindled into a vague sense of acceptance of the fact that I probably won't be birthing a book. Right now, though I have the starts of a dozen books and stories on my hard drive, a few of which are a mere 20K words from being finished first drafts, I have no desire to write those stories.
Maybe it's because my personal journey isn't where I thought it was. I have the title and an outline for an awesome book on step-parenting but that story has taken a road I hoped didn't exist. My story would not be the encouragement that I'd hoped it might be. Not at this point. At this point I'm just surviving and am hoping that the road that I hoped didn't exist is a short road.
So why did a suggested blog post about peace open a vein here? About blogging? Good question. Maybe if I circle around a bit and ramble, the thoughts will jell into something tangible.
Why do I review books? And movies?
I get free books. Offers come daily and sometimes people just send them to me. But here's the deal. Most of them don't change my life or complete me. Most of them are okay or even good. Some have valuable information for me to take and ponder. But it is a rare book that takes my breath away. I'm not in love with just the ability to write beautiful phrases or an exquisite scene that I can smell, taste and feel. Characters don't usually jump off the pages and grab me by the throat or heart. Most of what I read leaves me as it found me. Maybe with a tear in my eye or a chuckle still vibrating in my throat but the written thoughts and words don't pierce my heart. The same with a movie except that I don't get many free movies. Speaking of free. After I invest hours of my time into a free book, reading it, then write a review, well, lets just say this is not about the perks.
So why do I blog? Is it narcissistic? I love to see my words in "print?" Or am in love with my own opinions? Hmmm. I don't think it's narcissism. I can go weeks without updating my status on Twitter or Facebook. My life just isn't that interesting and I don't think others are waiting for something rich and fulfilling from my fingertips.
Not done yet....
A blog I subscribe to throws out challenges every once in awhile. They come up with a seasonal or creative topic to write about and we are invited to post our thoughts on their blog and then they pick a handful to highlight the following week.
I guess the benefit is that if I write something really terrific and people subjectively love it, I might get more readers or receive some sort of kudo. (Probably not the chocolate covered kind.)
So this concept got me thinking. I know you love it when I do that. Why do I blog?
If I decided to be brutally honest I'd tell you that I don't really know.
At all.
I did when I started. When I started blogging I was a wannabe writer with book ideas dancing in my head and some hope that if I worked really hard and put in loads of spit and polish and elbow grease and old-fashioned nitty gritty I'd eventually be published in hardcover. And when I was published I'd have an awesome platform from which to promote my book. After all, I'd have blogged about fascinating things and given out teasers and whetted appetites with witty, juicy and deep comments that left readers begging for more.
That's one of the reasons I began to do book reviews, too. To make my name recognizable in the tiny Christian publishing industry. My secondary reason was because all the authors I admired mentioned that a writer reads and learns from what she/he reads. And how better to learn than to sort information into some sort of logical format that spells out what makes a story good, believable and moving and what makes a character come to life? So there you go, writing a review does that.
That idealistic chick described in the preceding paragraphs has grown up a bit. I've attended writer's conferences, poured over articles, how-to books and had my stuff shredded and rewritten by the best critiquers around. I've entered far more contests than I'd like to admit. And I've stared at blank computer screens hoping for inspiration and the words with which to describe it.
To be continued.
