Free Gene Wolfe story

Gene Wolfe's novella, Memorare, is up for a Hugo award. So someone has kindly put it online.

This is a great story, and if you're unfamiliar with Wolfe's work, it's an excellent place to begin your aquaintance. It's about a series of asteroids where people have built memorial/tombs to lost loved ones. Most of the memorials are purposeful death traps, for a reason that becomes clear pretty quickly. The story is about a man, down on his luck, who decides to film a documentary about the memorials, which means he'll need to break into them. And he'll need to break into the most dangerous ones to get the best story.

As you read it, watch for the deft way that Wolfe takes what could have been a story of pure SF action and instead weaves it into a deep reflection on love, marriage, divorce, human relationships and how we remember the dead.

Here's the full list of Hugo nominees for this year, many of which are online.

You're Invited

This coming weekend, I'm delivering the message at our church.

Here are directions to the church.

They often record the message, so I'll post a link if they do, for those of you who prefer "distance learning."

The Butterbean Stories (part 4-6) by A

Continued from Butterbean parts 1-3 by A. Feel free to leave comments, because A loves to get your feedback on her work.

Chapter 4

Butterbean is purple. Guess what? She got to keep the loopdeloop she used. Now you see that purple bean? It's going to be a game in Butterbean part 6. Butterbean got all the beans out in an earlier part. All Butterbean's friends think Butterbean has no story, but Butterbean really does. Do you know how Butterbean got everyone out? The crayon sucked the beans in ibe day while they were playing on the swing. Butterbean had made a promise that she wouldn't invite the crayon to the park. But instead the crayon sucked all the beans in! The crayon cut the trees down and colored them pink. But Butterbean tried to stop the crayon but she couldn't. That's the end of Part Four, but there will be a lot of other exciting adventures of Butterbean.

Butterbean Part 5

One day Butterbean made an awful mistake. The Queen Butterbean had said, "Butterbean, will you get me some butter?" Instead Butterbean got her some butterbeads. Butterbean had to go into the awful crayon again. The Queen had sent that crayon to suck up everybody. The clock the Queen had was not working, she wished she had not sent Butterbean into the crayon, because she was the only fixer in town. The Queen had not let Butterbean take the swirl she had gotten. The giant crayon did not like the taste of Butterbean, so he spit Butterbean out. Join in for the next Butterbean story in Butterbean Part Six.

Butterbean Part 6

Today we're talking about how Butterbean and his friends discover a new person. Do you know what all the butterbeans discover behind a world? A magnificent world of pegasuses flying in the air.

THE END

More Door

Coming soon from the Wittenburg Door... an interview with science fiction and fantasy author John C. Wright, a former atheist who converted to Christianity after a vision where Jesus and the Virgin Mary came to him and told him to stop being an atheist. No, really.

Creepy Easter Moments

I've never liked people dressed up in animal costumes. Watching a six-foot tall rabbit walk over the links to entice my children to go searching for its eggs just gave me the creeps.

And the children ran after him like jave fiends searching for a Starbucks fix.

Unfortunately, the Big Bunny let the 3-year-olds decimate the eggs before releasing the five to eight year olds, so there were enormous hordes of children racing across the golf course. My daughters would sprint up to me, breathless and shout, "HAVE YOU SEEN ANY EGGS?" Then another kid would say, "I see something sparkling under those trees!" Then they would speed en masse toward the sparkling things.

The rabbit felt so bad for not replenishing the egg supply that he stood in one place and pretended not to notice as the smaller children took candy from his basket.

Actually, we had a great time at the Giant Easter Party, and you can see more pictures (including the impressive face paintings) on Krista's blog.

Fresh Strawberry Milkshake Dress Rehearsal

I've been waiting for months for the return of Burgerville's seasonal fresh strawberry milkshake. Today marked its triumphant return!

So I went down and bought me one tonight. Perhaps there were fewer fresh strawberries than last season, or perhaps the earlier part of the season has lesser strawberries, but the shake's flavor was not strawberrrrryy enough.

I have decided to pretend that tonight was Burgerville's dress rehearsal. I will give them a week and then try again. Watch this space for an update. (Yes, that's the sort of quality post you have come to expect here at BHR.)

Mikalatos Foils The Drug Dealers

Today, I'm walking along behind this guy in the parking lot, maybe five steps behind him. He stops two cars away from mine, pulls out an enormous wad of cash and slaps it in the hand of a man standing by the car. The second man pulls out a plastic baggie and hands it to the first man.

At this point I swing into action, karate chopping the first guy in the back of the neck. The second guy reaches into his jacket (it was a red Cubs parka for some reason... go figure) for a gun or maybe just to grab his heart because he is so scared but before he reached his pistol (or his heart, whatever) I drove my fist into his nose and my knee into his chest. Three guys jump out of the car, but by then I find a loose bike chain on the ground. They try to run, but it is too late for them. I pile all their bodies up, stand on the top and let loose with a thundering war cry that brings the police skidding into the parking lot. They want to talk to me, but I disappear as mysteriously as I arrived.

Well. Okay, the first paragraph is true. The second one is slightly embellished. I actually walked nonchalantly past the car, quickly memorized the license plate and the model of the car and called 911. They said they would get right on it as soon as an officer was available. So I am sure that Justice has been served. TAKE THAT EVIL-DOERS! They should know better than to tempt me to action. Duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh MATT MAN!

QUICK! LIGHT THE MATT SIGNAL! (The police commissioner here often says this.)

On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

I recently read On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson.


I have to admit that I picked up the book, instantly skeptical. The name threw me, I think. On the Edge of the Dark Sea. Of Darkness. I thought, "That's completely unecessary. Not like we're expecting the Dark Sea to be the Dark Sea of Light." The only thing that would have made me more skeptical would have been if there had been a quote on the back proclaiming "BETTER THAN TOLKIEN." But there wasn't one of those.

It didn't take me long to realize that my skepticism was unfounded. I found the sense of humor and fun in the first few pages lifted my expectations immediately, and I kept turning pages thinking, This might actually be good.


The Novel Whose Name Is Too Long For Me To Continue To Type Out (now referred to as OTEOTDSOD) is the story of the three Igiby children, who live with their mother and grandfather in a town oppressed by an occupying lizard-creature army. The nearby woods are full of dangerous creatures (though not too frightening for the kids... the "toothy cows" being an excellent example). Of course the children discover that all is not as it seems, and of course they are key players in the uprising against the forces of evil that have captured their town.

The thing I enjoyed most about this novel would definitely be the relaxed sense of humor. The land of Aerwiar, for instance, received its name because the first resident of the land looked around and said, "Well, here we are." The humor occasionally strayed toward the childish, but this is, after all, a young adult novel. Which means this is a strength, not a weakness.

The plot follows basic fantasy norms, so there aren't any real surprises in that sense. But the style is fun, and the content is appropriate and spiritually valuable without becoming preachy (or really overt at all). So you can feel confident that your kids could read it without worrying about what they'll come away with. In fact, I just put the book in my six-year-old daughter's hands and told her to have at it.

And OF COURSE since it's a fantasy novel it's not complete in and of itself. It's just part one of the story. FYI. So, really solid overall. I would gladly recommend it, especially to people looking for something to read to their kids.

Lots of people have reviewed the book today, and others will continue to do author interviews and so on. So if you want to know more, check out one of these links:

Sally Apokedak
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Green
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Michael Heald
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Margaret
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Pamela Morrisson
John W. Otte
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Cheryl Russel
Ashley Rutherford
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Jason Waguespac
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Make the World a Better Place by supporting the arts

If you're like me, you occasionally thought to yourself during World History class, "I wish I were a Medici." You know, that famous Italian family that sponsored famous artists like Michelangelo. Some of them also had cool names like "Lorenzo the Magnificent."

Now's your chance!

My best friend and occasional guest here at BHR (you would know him as "The Omnivore") has started an ingenious way for you to support artists using your internet presence. It's called Click Patron. Here's a simple explanation: You put a google search engine on your site. You get free art. Artists get free cash.

I've already put up the search box here at BHR.

Here's how you can become a patron:

1. Agree to use the Click Patron search link or box for a year.

2. Send an e-mail requesting the code for the search box to clickpatron@gmail.com All that you need to do is paste the code somewhere in your web presence, and agree to leave it there for a year. They can adjust the code to match your site's colors if requested. Also, if you don't know how to integrate it into your web presence, they should be able to offer some technical assistance.

3. E-mail clickpatron@gmail.com, telling them what work you'd like in return for your hospitality. If you can copy the link pointing to that specific piece and paste it into your e-mail, that would be ideal.

That's it!

And hey, if you're an artist, here are the instructions for becoming a benficiary of the Click Patron cash for artists program.

Signed,

Mikalatos the Magnificent

An Evil Guest

I just noticed tonight that Gene Wolfe's next novel has been listed for pre-order on Amazon! Yeeeehaaaa! That means come September I will have a new Wolfe novel. This is good news.

It's described so far as "Blade Runner meets Lovecraft."

In other words, weird but GREAT!

New Links

Hello Darlings--

I just added a few links which I should have added before, but I am lazy. And I deleted a couple who hadn't updated in the last SIX MONTHS. I assume your blog is done at that point.

New blogs to enjoy: Pink Couch, with Carolyn Culbertson. Sit in on her pink couch and learn from the desert saints, the dessert saints, and receive deep insights. More fun than a barrel full of monks!

The Official Blog of Dann Stockton. Imagine that Animal from the Muppet Show had a blog, but that instead of saying "Drums" and "Wo-man" he could actually speak and share his thoughts about his time on tour with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Except that his name is Dann and he is on tour with The Autumn Film.

Rocking it Indy Style is the blog of the incomparable Aubrea. She also sends out notes from the Autumn Film's tour. Aubrea also has a secret blog which she has not invited me to join. No doubt it is full of hilarious stories from the road and her deepest thoughts and feelings. But I am not bitter.

Lastly, we have Juli, also of the Autumn Film, with the Rockstar's Life. Included is an excellent post about sharing the stage with 15-year-olds who also have rock bands. I have heard that Dann is re-writing the song "Daddy Sang Bass" with the new lyrics "Juli Plays Bass." Coming to a venue near you.

"Weird" is just another way to say "Smarter than everyone else"

Driving home before bedtime:

Z: Dad, what are the two stories we are in the middle of at bedtime?

A: Lord of the Beans?

Me: Lord of the Rings.

A: And what was the other one? Mac... Mac...

Me: Macbeth.

Z and A: MACBETH! Yay! We want Lord of the Rings and Macbeth!

Krista: You are turning our kids into weirdoes.

Me: I am not.

Jesus and the Easter Bunny

I guess this is Dean's day at BHR. Dean is our worship pastor, and an instrumental part in the profound hour I spent with Christ yesterday. I went on his blog tonight and saw this video about Jesus spending time with the Easter Bunny and I thought, "I must steal this." Because the internet is all about stealing. So, a tip of the hat to Mr. Christensen.

Into The Labyrinth

Leading up to Easter our church does a worship labyrinth. I decided I would be a part of it this year. I've always wanted to do it, but never been able to before. Here's the description of it from the church:

Open your eyes, ears and hearts to an encounter with God. Experience the
Village Worship Labyrinth, an awesome devotional experience that
will help you draw closer to Him. The Worship Labyrinth is a
personal journey with eight stations where you can stop and spend
time with the Lord. This multi-sensory experience will give you time to let
go of the busyness, hurts and distractions that can spoil your relationship
with God.

I have to admit I was a little afraid. The last time I went into a labyrinth was in Oakhurst, California, and it was for a Halloween event. There were big walls built out of black garbage bags hanging on pvc pipe. I had made it most of the way through with minimal frights, but then this one vampire had a cape made out of black garbage bags. He was standing in a corner with his back to us, and when he turned around my stomach tried to crawl out my mouth. Luckily all the screaming got out first, so I had time to fix that.

The only other association I have with Labyrinth (until yesterday) was the strange Jim Henson movie from 1986. So I was a little concerned that I might run into something like this in the maze:

Anyway, those were the thoughts I had going in. Oh, also, when Yoda sends Luke Skywalker into that tree that is strong in the dark side of the Force and he tells him that he won't need his lightsaber. Then Darth Vader comes out of the shadows and attacks him. Creepy.

So, I got to Village for my scheduled appointment for the Labyrinth, and our worship pastor, Dean, was there giving people the talk to prepare them for their experience. He calmed my fears. Since I didn't have a lightsaber, I left my cell phone, wallet and house keys in the truck and my shoes outside the labyrinth.

The labyrinth was set up in the main sanctuary... Dean and his minions had removed all the pews and replaced it with the outline of a labyrinth, with eight different stops along the way.

The way in was all about preparing yourself to meet with and hear from God. I felt Christ beside me the whole way, inviting me to come to the center to meet with him. I put the hood of my sweatshirt up because I am too easily distracted, which made me feel a little bit like a monk.

At the center of the labyrinth stood a table with bread and juice for communion. I sat there and prayed for a long time, and I experienced his presence in a powerful way. I spoke clearly with him, and heard clear responses from him. He prayed a blessing over me. I didn't want to leave, but he told me that I couldn't just stay there in the center of the labyrinth, that the personal transformations we experience at his feet can and must cause transformation in the people and society around us. And the second half of the labyrinth helped drive those points home.

I wish I could write out the precise conversation I had with Christ in the labyrinth, and some of the details of that hour, but I'm not sure this blog is an appropriate place, where I can make it clearly understood without making it seem like some strange, outsized thing. I will settle for saying that this was certainly a moment in my, life where I experienced Christ's presence, one of those moments I could point to and say, "Of course Christ is real, of course he is an actual person."

Inevitably I am disappointed with the way this translates into words. This hour was a deeply profound one for me, and to try to explain it requires a courage I lack, I think. I will have to think more about it and see if I can find the right way to express it.

Anyway, a deep and profound thanks to the pastors, staff and volunteers at Village, who set aside the space and time to let me meet with Christ yesterday. Your spiritual leadership and service is much appreciated.

How I knew it was going to be a good day today

I woke this morning from a pleasant dream in which I could fly.

A simple sort of sweater vest/harness with small wings on it allowed me, with some minimal work, glide for impossibly long distances. I had to jump up and exercise a bit to get into the air initially, but pretty soon I was gently soaring over the bright ocean, and coming in close to shore and sitting for a while in the highest branches of the gnarled trees that grew partly on shore, partly in the waves. A small band of mice came and told me a story about the war they were fighting with some other tribe of mice, and I promised to help them when I had a chance.

Then I remembered that I was supposed to be substitute teaching for my friend, Brian, which could have been nightmarish, but the woman who came to remind me of my duties thought that discovering flight should be a perfectly delightful reason to forget I had promised to teach. Besides, another substitute had also forgotten. So we both rode in the woman's small car back to the school, where the children were delighted I was their substitute. So much so that I never even had a chance to tell them about my flight or the mice.

And I woke up relaxed and happy. And the children got ready easily for school, and my wife seemed especially lovely and loving. It was, all in all, an excellent way to start the day.

Revolutionary Advice With Matt

Dear Matt,

My wife, Annie, says that our crystal stemware is full of lead and that we shouldn't drink out of it anymore. This is because lead is bad for you. But I say she is wrong. I need your advice.

Sincerely,

Jim Phule

Matt replies: Annie Phule knows that lead from your crystal stemware can leach into your beverage. In fact, like a good cup of tea, your drink will fill with more and more lead the longer you leave it to steep in the glass. So the secret is to imbibe your drink more rapidly. The faster you drink, the less lead you will take in. My suggestion would be to dump the drink into your stemware and immediately chug it. NOTE: Pregnant women and children should drink theirs even faster!

Perhaps a better question would be why you are using stemware at all. In our home we have a rule... "from the bottle, from the jug, from the pitcher we will chug." Individual glasses were invented in the Middle Ages because the backwards people at that time believed in tiny little men called "Germs." They thought these little men hated us (they were jealous of our size) as well as one another (so My Germs would attack and try to kill Your Germs). This was called Germ Warfare. So, if You and I both drank from the same cup, Your Germs might attack me when I went to take a drink, causing sickness or even death. This sort of silly superstition must be shunned, which is why I make certain my family all drink from the same jug of milk. You would be wise to do the same.

Sincerely,

Matt

Not to sound like a cranky old man

But is it really possible that our house consumes so much toilet paper?

Also, Krista and I played Twister with the kids tonight. Twister is not so easy as I remember.

Lastly--and I'm absolutely certain that none of you care--but there will be a new Ambush Bug miniseries this summer.

Ruthless

I was in a meeting recently where we talked about the need to be "ruthless" in determing what would be allowed to be included in a specific event we were planning.

Someone asked, "What does 'ruthless' mean? If I were not ruthless, would I be 'full of ruth'?"

Her question got me to wondering. And here's the answer:

ruthless
c.1327, from reuthe "pity, compassion" (c.1175), formed from reuwen "to rue" (see rue (v.)) on the model of true/truth, etc. Ruthful (c.1225) has fallen from use since late 17c. except as a deliberate archaism.

So, there you have it. I trust you will be ruthful today when appropriate.

Mormon Jesus and My Jesus

A slightly streamlined presentation of our discussion about Jesus:

Me: So what would be the main difference between what my church would say about Jesus and what the Mormons would say about Jesus?

Elder M: The only real difference would be that your church probably says that we don't worship Jesus. But we do.

Me: So you believe all the same things about Jesus as my church? The Nicean creed type of thing? Fully God, fully man, born by virgin birth, lived, died, rose again, rules at God's right hand sort of thing?

Elder M: The Nicean creed, now, that's different. That was just a bunch of people getting together and voting about what the Bible would say. And we believe in Jesus and Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost, but not that they are all one.

Me: So you don't believe in the trinity?

Elder J: We believe in the Godhead.

Me: Okay. Interesting. Wow. I have a lot of questions for you now. True or false: Jesus is God.

Elder M: True.

Me: True or false: there are three gods.

Elder M: True.

Me: Now that's pretty different. Did Jesus exist eternally, into the past as well as the future?

Elder M: We all existed eternally. Matter and energy can't be destroyed. We were all intelligences, and Heavenly Father rearranged things to create us. Jesus is the first being he created.

Me: Wait. God created Jesus?

Elder M: Yes.

Me: So the difference between the intelligence that became Jesus and the intelligence that became me is what exactly?

Elder M: He was chosen to die for us, and became part of the Godhead.

Me: So it was kind of like a promotion?

Elder M (laughing): I guess you could say that.

Me: That's pretty different from what I believe about Jesus.

Elder M: You know, as I think about it, I guess what we teach about Jesus is pretty different than what you believe.

Mormons and Coffee

I took my Mormon friends out to lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant today.

Me: Sorry about inviting you to coffee yesterday. That was pretty funny.

Elder M: That was funny.

Me: I don't drink coffee, either. Are you allowed to drink decaf?

Elder M: No. It's not because of the caffeine, it's the tanic acid. Tea also has tanic acid.

Me: You can't drink tea, either?

Elder M: No.

Me: Can you drink soda?

Elder M: There's a story that someone went fishing with the prophet and asked him if he was allowed to drink a Pepsi and the prophet said, "You may drink it, but God prefers that you not."

Me: So it's on your own conscience?

Elder M: Right. But we know that there's something in soda that causes damage to your bones.

Me: So this is all a health thing?

Elder M: Yes. We are supposed to take care of our bodies and be as healthy as possible.

Me: Elder J, how's that chimichanga?

Elder J: It's good.