A Bibliophile's Reverie

2012-01-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

"The Wolf Gift Countdown ":Interview with Anne Rice"

1. One of my favorite elements of your stories has always been your ability to humanize creatures that have always been dehumanized, or were seen as aberrations in the eyes of civilization. It was refreshing, for me, to see immortals that aspired to find answers to existential questions. From your hints about "Wolf Gift, on your Facebook, I know you won't be offering us a werewolf that wakes up, after being a werewolf for the evening, to find that he unthinkably massacred dozens of people.What sparked this conscious decision to deviate from the generic, tormented werewolf who inadvertently kills people when going into one of his werewolf (drunken) rages?

Anne Rice:"You know there is a pattern to my fiction, no matter what the subject. I am always interested in the hero, whether it is Jesus Christ, or the vampire, or the mummy, or the witch. I want to get into the mind and heart of the outsider, and the supernatural hero is the ultimate outsider. So of course I have little interest in the old idea of the werewolf as some one who has no consciousness of his bestial nature and is destined only for release through the silver bullet. I naturally have gone into the mind of a werewolf who is fully conscious during his transformation and knows what he is doing as he experiences his new and wondrous animalian strength and instincts. It is inevitably for Reuben a sensuous experience. As my vampire fiction explored the "freedom" and heightened senses of the vampire, The Wolf Gift explores the same for hero, Reuben Golding, who discovers that he can use his powers, in fact, must use his powers to intervene for the innocent and against the violent and the guilty. Yet Reuben, in the wolfen state, is still an immensely powerful and effective killer and destroyer. He finds himself doing things which ordinary human beings cannot justify doing. The subject is as always for me the matter of good and evil, and the strange mix of good and evil in each of us, and in all of us."

2. Another thing that intrigued me was the novel's promise of a "nostalgic" return to San Francisco where we were first introduced to Louis. I know a lot of your older fans, in particular, are very overjoyed by this. Is "The Wolf Gift's" setting a turn down memory lane for you as well?
Anne Rice: "It was time for me to revisit San Francisco and northern California. I was ready. It took me years after leaving the south to actually write about the south. And it has taken me years after leaving the Bay Area to have the distance to write about it. I found myself walking the streets of San Francisco and Mill Valley, and the paths of Muir Woods with great pleasure. I just loved once again roaming the Mendocino Coast with its chill winds and gray skies, and pounding surf. The whole northern California landscape came alive for me in a new and vivid way in the Wolf Gift. I have since gone north to visited all the sites of the Wolf Gift, and loved it. This is after all a landscape I knew and loved for 30 years, and it was inevitable that I would write about it, especially after my cathartic southern years. Reuben is a child of San Francisco, one of the greatest and most cosmopolitan cities in the country, and a city whose beauty rivals that of New Orleans. I feel so grateful that I have spent so much of my life in these two unique places. Maybe I had to return to the south, and write about it in many novels, before I could be free to really engage with northern California. It all feels wonderful to me now, writing of North Beach restaurants, and San Francisco's splendid nighttime skyline, and the roads of the Wine Country and the Redwood forests."
3.This is probably far too early to ask this, but could you see this novel as possibly becoming the first book of the"Werewolf Chronicles?" Or, is this novel pretty self-contained?
Anne Rice: "Yes, the Wolf Gift could certainly be the first novel of a series. Yes. One never knows. But the characters are so alive for me, and there is so much more to say there, and so much more to tell. The cast is very busy in my mind right now. However the Wolf Gift as written, I hope, is a fully realized novel. Reuben's quest has its climax in the book, and that matters very much to me. In the past, I've written what I thought were fully realized novels with cliff hanger endings, and it always disappointed me when people focused less on the climax and more on the cliffhanger. So I avoided the cliff hanger ending here, in the hopes that readers would see the more fully realized elements of the story. But...yes, it could be the beginning of a series about Reuben and his "kind."

Thanks Anne Rice again for your receptiveness, and for answering these questions with detailed answers!!

2012-01-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

The Heart of Existence

A gun misfires

That clangorous noise is so deafening

The soldiers of God stood in unison

Marching towards my hiding place

My mind is my refuge

Can God find me here?

Once upon a time,

I drowned ceremoniously in a baptismal pool

I sputtered…
As I floated back to the surface

“Yes, I believe, I believe…”

With one panicked wheeze, I stared through misted eyes

A jubilant congregation clapped

I’m confused..

Where is God?

I dreamt of angels bespangling trees

Where are they?
This fleeting vision is trapped in the perimeters of my mind

Outside, I see nothing but my ordinary surroundings

A thought struck me…

Am I forsaken?
Or is God just me,

whispering through the isolation of my mind?

A gun was thrust into my hand

Some sergeant with stately clothes

Screamed hoarsely for me to shoot at the prisoner

A small, whimpering child

The enemy?

“Are you a man?”

Am I human?

“Its God commandment to kill this “thing,”
He’s not one of us
The child was like me
Recoiling from the mad violence

As I stared despondently at the child,
I stoically pulled the trigger,
Hearing the child’s cries

Cut through the fabric of my being,

I died….
Was this God’s doing or man’s?
Where is God hiding?

I awakened after the holy war

We happily celebrated over the heathen corpses

Except me, I stared in horror

Did I do this?
Was I part of this?
God, Why oh Why??

Back in church,

I dreamt only of my death

Weighed down with stones in my pocket

Drowning, dying

In the pool of tears

Thinking…

Take me elsewhere…

Beyond here...

A meadow hidden within the shadows..

The pastor roared

“Those who fail to believe,

Die a second time.”

Flashes of the corpses of those innocent children
Tore through my mind…

Their bleeding bodies haphazardly

Stacked atop each other..

They were dead once,

And they’ll die again

Does God smile mutinously upon this

Dream of Mankind??

After church,

I miserably drowned myself with wine

Was it really his blood dulling the pain?

All of this sacrificial blood seeping through my veins

Mixing with the blood of those I killed

Was it all just metaphoric?

Could Jesus really be there, somewhere?

Dying from our sins?

The morning sun illuminated my bleeding body

Lying against the dark wood floor

What did I do?

Did someone stab me?

The knife was laid next to me

Smeared with my blood

Dripping from my open heart

A Sunday school memory danced through my mind

“Children, do you know Jesus lives within our hearts?”
Did I kill him, or has he been let free?

I laughed at the thought of Jesus crawling out of my heart

Then standing over me with a sardonic expression..

I was always here…

2012-01-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

"The Wolf Gift" Review"

Disclaimer: I tried very hard to stray away from offering any spoilers. It has always remained a personal policy to keep from posting spoilers because I want readers to enjoy reading reviews without fear of ruining the great experience of reading any book without foreknowledge of certain surprising revelations in the story.

Review:
Anne Rice’s newest novel The Wolf Gift symbolizes a return to familiar territory for Anne Rice fans. It also showcases Anne Rice’s search for a new spiritual perspective within her life. Beginning in early 2011, many of Anne Rice’s Facebook posts contained inklings of a new supernatural story which featured werewolves as the central focus of the new project. Upon reading this post, I knew that Anne Rice desired to return to place that she fondly loved within her earlier novels. It was a metaphoric paradise where she can poetically seek new meaning within her life.

    On the outside, “The Wolf Gift,” has elements that are reminiscent of Interview with the Vampire from the San Francisco journalist to the California setting. Also, the intoxicating, sensual prose returns in majestic form within the story as it effortlessly immerses the reader into a beautiful oasis where Californian redwood trees are foregrounded against a inky night sky. Against this blackness, the natural world filled to the brim with a host of different forms of biological life are seeking meaning in their own unique way. The werewolf within this environment happens to be the proverbial “top dog,” or an elite species that is a new evolutionary phase of both” humans” and “beasts.”
                  Except, Anne Rice’s supernatural creatures are far more human than bestial in any sense. As with all novels, the supernatural creature represents ourselves, composed of both “primal” and “rational” senses as we carve out meaning about the nature of morality, or the questionable existence of God or some higher power. These supernatural creatures allow us to freely ponder our own existential questions within a rich fictitious setting. “The Wolf Gift,” primarily focuses on the tough philosophical question of “the problem of evil,” what types of acts constitute the label of that word “evil?” This question is intrinsic to the existence of the werewolf as these seemingly abstract concepts appear tangible within their construction of the world. Except, this tangibility paradoxically introduces more questions than answers about the nature of evil.

    Surprisingly, this book improves upon her other books where some minor characters were sometimes caricatures rather than characters. This problem was more apparent in her later Vampire Chronicles books that partly lost their razor-sharp, artistic edge that was finely sharpened within her earlier novels. Fortunately, the Wolf Gift attests to Anne Rice’s newly discovered creative spark that she alluded to in Facebook posts after leaving Catholicism. All the characters were developed meticulously and far more than just caricatures. Many of her critics have always misunderstood the power and mystique of her sensual prose that really enhances the cinematic power of her depictions of the werewolf transformation. There were instances that reminded me of some her finest works like Memnoch the Devil, or The Vampire Lestat where the prose contained so much realistic detail that I effectively lost my sense of reality temporarily. Except, Anne Rice books have the uncanny ability to imbue you with a different sense of reality altogether.

   To those who have never read Anne Rice’s books, the attitude of fans that believe that Lestat, or Anne Rice’s characters might be real seems insensible. From reading her books, this belief makes perfect sense as even the stubborn realist such as myself often imagines the possibility of meeting such prodigious characters like Lestat, Marius, Armand. After reading “The Wolf Gift,” there are now a litany of new characters that I can only dream were real. This sense of kinship with her characters made reading the final pages a very melancholy experience. Much like finishing an episode of Anne Rice’s favorite tv series such as Rome, Lark Rise to Candleford, or Downton Abbey, departing from the exciting world of “The Wolf Gift,” was extremely painful. To this day, after finishing the last pages, I still have stinging separation anxiety.

      Does “The Wolf Gift,” deserve such effusive praise? In my humble opinion, it does because Anne Rice outdoes herself with this book by compiling the greatest elements of her best novels, and admixes them with some new philosophical insights, and interesting characters with an array of unique gifts. As always, Anne Rice’s stories appear menacing with their Gothic undertones albeit The Wolf Gift also involves a rich sense of optimism and reverence for the complex, enigmatic world that we live in. Some of the quieter sequences of the novel lull you into a sense of peace before the novel descends into a darker, more boisterous scene. Due to this exceptional quality, the book never overwhelms you instead it mystifies you, and grants the reader that sense of wonderment which JK Rowling, Madeleine L’Engle, Ursula K. Le Guin, and JRR Tolkien adeptly filled their readers' minds with.

      Hopefully, all Anne Rice’s fans will not be disappointed with this wonderful tome. To me, it has a rich array of all those qualities that define an Anne Rice book: philosophical musings, antique houses described in florid detail, sensuous prose, and old--school English Gothic elements. On the other hand, it also involves a fresh take on the “werewolf” who has recently been revived by Twilight. After reading The Wolf Gift, you’ll be left in limbo because the story just leaves you with such a deep impression of awe that its impossible to consciously sort out your opinion immediately after reading it.

        On Feburary 14th, prepare yourself a cup of coffee or tea and then find a comfortable seat. Once you start reading, you’ll be detached from reality and be unable to stop reading for awhile. Another symptom of finishing this book happens to be an insatiable need to research everything about werewolf lore, and also to check out the films that are referenced within the book. Personally, I cannot wait to hear every one's reactions to the story. I think its safe to say that Reuben, and the cast of other colorful characters within this story will win over the hearts of any readers. Thank you Anne Rice, for your receptiveness to fans, and for writing such an excellent book!! Also, thanks to Knopf publishers for providing the advance reader copy of this book!! It is very much appreciated.

2012-01-10T15:56:00.000-08:00

Interview with Maria V. Snyder (Author of Poison Study, Touch of Power)& "Touch of Power" Contest details 1.Yes, this is one of those general questions, but what did inspire the idea for this story?

In the Study books, Yelena has the power to heal, but it’s but one of her many skills. So after writing the Study books, I wanted to explore healing powers more in depth. I had this vague idea about a healer or an apprentice healer during an epidemic. She was either going to be sought after for her powers – like everyone wanting her, or be hunted. I wasn’t sure. Then one night my daughter couldn’t sleep and she wanted me to tell her a story. She knew all my other books, so I started telling her about this healer. And every night, she’d ask, “What’s next?” That’s why Touch of Power is dedicated to my daughter.

2.Within "Touch of Power," the way the magic operates seems striking similar to the "magic" in
your Poison Study books? What are the differences?

The difference is that in the Study books, magical power surrounds the world like a blanket and the magicians use “threads” of power in order to start fires, move objects, read minds. While in Touch of Power, the magic is a gift from the various elements of the world. There are forest mages, air mages, moon magicians, life magicians, healers, etc... each gets their power from the “living” essence of these elements. Except healers, they get their powers in a rather unique way that’s still linked to the world.

3. Was there any unique research required for this book? With past books, I'm aware that you've visited prisons, studied the way glass is made, and learned the craft of fencing.

For this book most of my researched focused on the various plagues and epidemics throughout history. I wanted to learn what happened after these plagues, how the survivors coped with the bodies and grief and with the everyday tasks of life. I also studied up on guerilla warfare tactics. Small elite forces fighting against a larger army will come into play in the next book, Scent of Magic.

4.Weather-related metaphors, and images are pervasive in your stories. It really adds to the realism of your books. You've written "Storm Glass" which involved magic that related to weather. But, do you have any plans to ever write a story where weather is a central focus? Strangely, I can see you writing about storm chasers!

LOL! I love the show Storm Chasers on the Discovery channel! As for all those weather metaphors, I guess that’s just my meteorology degree creeping in. J I did write a short story about a college student, who is a meteorology major at Penn State University who gets attacked by a big strange dog. It’s called The Coldest Game and is the Bewere the Night anthology edited by Ekaterina Sedia. And I have another story about a weather wizard in Black Gate Magazine titled Cursing the Weather. Oh, and my middle-grade novel, Storm Watcher has been recently picked up by a small press (no details yet). Wow – that’s a lot of “weather” books! If I ever write a book about Heli the Stormdancer from the Glass books, weather will most certainly play a major part in the plot.

5.At the moment, What is your favorite film/tv show/album? (You can just answer one out of the three or all three)

I haven’t been to the movies in ages so I haven’t seen any current ones. As for TV show, I’ve been enjoying Bones for a number of years – the dynamic between the two main characters is lots of fun to watch. And my favorite album right now is Matchbox Twenty’s Mad Season.

6.Would you ever expand any of your preexisting short-stories into novels ?

There are a few I’d like to expand on. Sword Pointfrom the Eternal Kiss anthology is one, and I’d like to write a sequel to Mongrel from Running with the Pack.

7. Are there any plans to have assassins within future stories in this series?

Assassins in my healer series? Maybe. I know that’s vague, but I wouldn’t want to give anything away. Thanks again, Maria V Snyder for taking the time to answer these questions!! Contest Details: (If you haven't already read my review of "Touch of Power, click the cover art below!!) If you're interested in obtaining your own copy of "Touch of Power," leave a comment with your name and email address (use this format for email address :pokemonzelda(at)yahoo(dot)com) Another requirement for entry involves becoming a follower on the blog. If you have no idea how to become a follower, there should be an area on the right side-bar on the blog where the counter for the number of blog followers are listed. There should be an icon that says "Follow this Blog." The rest is pretty self-explanatory. The winner will be notified via email on the deadline: Tuesday January, 24th 2012! Good luck, and thanks to both Harlequin/Maria V. Snyder for the complimentary copy.

2012-01-08T09:10:00.000-08:00

"The Wolf Gift" Countdown"

Dracula Ball/ "Wolf Gift" Promotion

By clicking the image above, you'll be redirected to the Live-journal page that contains details about this upcoming event in "Philadelphia," on the 4th of February. It looks really fun though I'm still undecided about going. For my readers in the Philly area, this is a great opportunity to party it up before the launch of "The Wolf Gift." Supposedly, one of the door prizes near midnight will involve free reserved copies of "The Wolf Gift," which will be personally signed at the upcoming Anne Rice signing on the 14th.

For now, less than 40 days remain for the release of "The Wolf Gift," Be on the lookout for more exciting, hair-raising posts related to "The Wolf Gift" countdown!

2012-01-03T18:24:00.000-08:00

Cache of "Vampire Chronicle" Philosophy Posts

For your convenience, I have compiled all the links for each of the "Vampire Chronicle" philosophy posts for those who might not have read them before. It was painstaking work to have to go through all my posts to find each individual link, but I felt this would prove helpful to anyone who might not have read these posts before, or are interested in re-reading if they're even worth that kind of honor.

Over the course of the next few months, I really want to have an in-depth analysis of Anne Rice's "The Wolf Gift," before delving into a new series of Vampire Chronicle philosophy posts centered around "The Vampire Lestat," and "Queen of the Damned." With college, I don't know how I'll prove to succeed in creating these posts. It all depends on my energy level, and free time.

Related to "Interview with the Vampire"
Part 1 Overview of the philosophy of "Interview with the Vampire
Part 2: Claudia: the preserved childPart 3: Duality: Mind/Body Problem

Related to "Memnoch the Devil": (Its not exactly philosophical per-say.)
Part 1: Spiritual Therapy for the Disillusioned: Attack of the "Conscience"
Part 2: The Splendor of Heaven

2012-01-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

"The Wolf Gift" Countdown"

The Medieval "Werewolf:" Overview of Marie De France's Bisclavret

Typically, we view the werewolf through the modern lenses where he is a raging beast that has primeval urges, and has no control over the manifestation of these dangerous urges. Werewolves are wildly unpredictable, and their known ferocity symbolically represented  the indiscriminate, inhuman feelings that a beast with no human instincts felt. To people who conceived the image of the werewolf, the werewolf might have been the embodiment of the fear of any living organism without the rational powers that help us to imaginatively transcend our "primal" selves. Ruthless acts of violence of any kind leave us with a deep impression of terror. As a whole, "nightime" and "evening" represented the hours of subversive activity where God could not divinely intervene into the wiles of sinister creatures, entities, and individuals. Shakespeare consciously borrowed this poetic theme as a means of establishing the "evil taint" within his tragedies that would smother the whole of play into a sheet of seemingly ineradicable evil.

Curiously, Bisclavret, a medieval poem that features a werewolf does not use the atypical archetype of the bestial werewolf. Instead, the werewolf preserves his rational powers which were an important asset for any pious Christian during the middle ages to fastidiously preserve. Easily, sin, in the form of "concupiscence" or sexual immorality, could easily corrupt someone. Within Bisclavret, the werewolf's wife at the beginning of the poem is still unaware of her husband's secret transformation of the werewolf. As her husband dodges her paranoid inquisitions about the nature of his behavior, he finally succumbs to her persistent, emasculating questions and divulges dangerous information involving his true werewolf existence. At this time, the husband's life could be endangered by monarchical forces as the very fact that he can become a werewolf during a temporary period of time signifies that he might have made a pact with Satan. More importantly, the taint of unholy desires lies embedded within his soul that should be cleansed of anything that is not of "God."

Fascinatingly, the wife leaves the husband in a mad pursuit as she cannot tolerate the truth of his evil nature. Interestingly, the king and his court later discovers the "werewolf" when he remains a werewolf as the wife had stole his clothing which metaphorically represents his reputation that she tries to sully. Furthermore, the werewolf's biased story about his wife overstepping her boundaries and emasculating her husband by not being submissive earns the sympathy of a court that is mostly male. While it is overtly clear that he is a werewolf, they think the wife is insubordinate and disrespectful of male authority figures. Therefore, they ignore her accusations about her husband's violent rages characterized by the traditional idea of werewolves. To the wife, the notion that her husband is a werewolf resembles his hidden sordid nature, and his abusive behavior. All of this is implied as Marie De France had to write this poem as if offering adulation to the male authority figures within her world. Within the preface of the poem, she offers her fealty and respect for the king at the time. On the surface, she seems to be dutifil in terms of her place, as a female, within society. This collection of rewritten stores and poems, told formerly in an oratorical manner,were meant as a gift to the king, and also a symbolic act of submission to men at the time.

Many critics have often carelessly read Bisclavret as some kind of cautionary tale about insubordinate wives who overstep her boundaries. Originally, when I read the poem, I almost committed the same error of relying on my initial interpretation of the poem. When we read stories for the first time, the first reading represents the formative stages of reading which is the most superficial of all interpretations of any text. Its fine to read that way when reading a story for entertainment purposes. When making any declarative analyzes about a piece of text though, you have to read a text multiple times and even be rather knowledgeable about the historical context of the story. Yes, Bisclavret  unmistakably vilifies defiant women because the story was probably originally crafted by men within a village to to warn women about the dangers of trespassing their societal boundaries.

Whether I'm reading too much into the text or not, Marie De France seems to utilize the poem as a story that subtly reflects the ignorance of the patriarch within her society. Interestingly, the wife, at the beginning of the poem, has legitimate reasons to be suspicious of her husband who sneaks away from the homestead in the middle of the night and strangely strips off his clothes which the wife construes to mean that he is being adulterous. Later, she runs off with another knight for very good reasons because the husband reveals the truth of her suspicions when he admits that he transforms into a "werewolf" at night which represents his bestial nature. Also, it shows that at the core of his heart lies something rather impious. He is hiding the fact that he becomes unrestrained at night, and that all passionate feelings come unbidden.Sadly, the court sympathizes with the "werewolf" as if the wife, with her reasonable accusations, is the one who is blameworthy for daring to ruin her husband's clean reputation. In the end of the poem, the wife is cursed, along with her offspring, much like Abel and his progeny within the Bible.

As a whole, Bisclavret reveals the insidious nature of medieval misogyny. During that time, men were expected to be adulterous . Knowing their guilt, they often used women as scapegoats for their inability to remain chaste and honest within a marriage. Many of the medieval philosophers are rather fiery when it comes to speaking about the seductive danger of sexual desire because they themselves had probably experienced firsthand the danger of giving into such dangerous passions without any reservations. Werewolf, vampires, and demons were all manifestations of the feared creature that is so depraved that they lack the inability to receive salvation from God. In many ways, they were the very epitome of our fear that we have the potential to be irreversibly damned for sins that we might have not consciously committed. This fear of the loss of "rationality" or "prudence" can be seen Dante's epic poem: "The Divine Comedy." Additionally, one of the most highly revered philosophers of the time, St. Augustine, explicitly describes the loss of reason being the source of the gravest of sins.

Essentially,in Bisclavret, the male authority figures are largely dismissive of the husband's vices and instead use women as the source of inordinate passion within men. Soon enough, witches would thus become a far more prominent evil than werewolves. As result, the number of suspected "witches" or autonomous women would be the major scapegoat for the sin which some men seemed too prideful to admit to. We still this vilification used by some Christian fundamentalists towards women in terms of the abortion issue. Oftentimes, rape victims or impoverished, single women are viewed, by these Christians, as people who are likely to commit the grievous sin of abortion. From these individuals,we seldom hear about the strangely unmentioned responsibility of the men involved. For these reasons, historical texts like Bisclavret should never be overlooked, or dismissed based on its age: the underlying message within anything from any historical period, informs us about the faults of humanity, and the ongoing struggle for all humans to seek meaning in a chaotic world.

2012-01-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

"The Wolf Gift" Countdown"

The Werewolf's Beloved Moon

Once upon a time, serenity filled my craven soul
Now, it overflows with toxic vengeance
The woman who I doted on never eloped
Nor has she dreamed of me
Since the day we kissed
In her heart, there burned a lust for someone
Who had neither my face,or my heart

Where was my heart?
It only throbbed loudly
When I phased into
The very manifestation
Of my bereaved,vengeful soul
It was a wolf;
My heart's howl signaled its release

The memory of her flaxen hair
Waved in my memory
That warmth of being kissed was welcoming
Unlike the brutal heat of my werewolf body
Which overheated with the rage over
This woeful loss
How dare she have passion for someone else?

Originally, she accused me of being adulterous
Was my chivalry a deceptive facade
That hid my sordid passion?
Did our internal souls truly love others,
but never ourselves?
Perhaps, the face of our passion was truly never
The ones we convinced ourselves of being
Passionately in love with

Confusion was the over-domineering feeling
Surmounting all known human thoughts
Within this primeval
Werewolf mind
Why couldn't I kill her, or cast a curse upon her?
I could only feebly mourn the loss of our love
Which became so paradoxical
To the extent of becoming nonexistent

With the ravenous hunger roaring within
My forlorn spirit,
I howled to the indifferent face
Of the Full Moon
Whom had the face of my lover
While the solemn howl resounded through the
Lonesome darkness of the evening
I swore that small rain drops
From the developing storm clouds
Shadowing her darkened gaze
Tickled my nose

Howling desperately once more,
I incoherently pleaded for repentance
Except, her face and light became unseen
Tucked beneath the blanket of clouds
Strolling across the naked sky and
Bringing a torrent of her tears
Once she finally departed from my world

2012-01-02T07:33:00.000-08:00

"The Wolf Gift" Countdown:

Updates on Nonexistent Theme/New Plans:

As usual, it seems that I have neglected my duty to be updating this blog with the planned posts that were supposed to revolve around certain supernatural entities/figures/individuals/creatures that related partly to the supernatural aspects of Anne Rice's novel. "Mummy" month have a few stray posts, and now witch month which was to be this month, January 2012, will probably not happen as originally planned. By nature, I'm scatter-brained and that factored in the nonexistent presence of any of the posts that I had promised everyone.

Instead of having such a wide topic, I am narrowing down the focus of the countdown posts to "werewolves." On Anne Rice's Facebook page, a number of her passionate fans have been posting "Wolf Gift" related countdown posts that pertain to wolves in general. I'll be doing the same thing for the next forty days or so till the release of the much anticipated Anne Rice novel.

Along with these posts, I'll have a four-part interview which Anne Rice obligingly allowed. I'm still amazed by her receptiveness to fans. The questions were rather difficult to write as her books really made a very deep impression on me. Additionally, I wrote some rather dense questions as there are so many underlying elements that are pivotal to appreciating the artistry of her books. Every time, I ponder certain sequences from her books; new questions are raised while many interesting insights are developed.

Please respond to the posts, and help convince me to keep making contributions to these countdown posts!Be on the lookout for many wolfish posts over the course of January, and early February!!

2012-01-02T06:45:00.000-08:00

Review of Maria V. Snyder's "Touch of Power"

Originally, I had a marginal amount of book reviews here several years ago.Over the course of the last year, the average number of reviews per month has dwindled on this blog due to college, and work on a potential novel. This is something that has been lamentable in my life;however, it is quite necessary when considering the sheer business of my schedule. Other times, I have become disenchanted with book reviews because everything I attempt to read seems uninspired, or is filled with pedestrian prose. There have been a dozen of fantastic examples that have made me re-interested in writing more book reviews (Wolf of Tebron by C.S. Lankin,,Jon Sprunk's assassin series). One of the notable examples of a book that really infused me with enthusiasm for this blog initially was Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study which was an impulse buy from Wegmans. Another factor in my decision was a passing reference to the book by one of my friends two years earlier in high school who mentioned that "she was insanely addicted to the series."

After buying the book, I still had some doubts, and one of them revolved around the fact that it was published by "Harlequin." Yes, that indeed seems like a trite reason for someone who presents themselves as a reasonably open-minded person. Nevertheless, the images that name conjures is men with bedroom eyes, and perspiring torsos who are irrevocably smitten with women with violet eyes, and sadomasochistic tendencies though these women have the veneer of being pure virgins. Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study, and her subsequent novels eventually debunked my preconceived notions. First of all, her stories were insanely fun to read, and her characters were very well-developed. Eventually, her characters would become friends that I reunited with when re-reading any of her novels much like how I always find myself re-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes because I sorely miss the eccentric characters who felt weirdly like friends.

Touch of Power,Maria V. Snyder's latest novel, has managed to create the same cast of eclectic, endearing characters that have really helped to make her books such engrossing reads. Within this novel, the magic of the Study Series has made a triumphant return except this time the apocalyptic undertones that have underpinned a slew of recent young-adult books has crept its way into this book. During the first half of the novel or so, the novel expertly immerses us immediately into the action. The prologue itself was very sharply plotted as it preserved a certain measure of mystery. It was not one of those novels that begins with a seismic exposition dump that ruptures the flow of the remainder of the novel. From the first action-packed sequence, Avry, the witty, resilient healer, finds herself with a band of men of unknown origins.
In many fantasy novels, This part represents the travel sequence where the author can meticulously unravel the mystery of the characters, and allow for the audience to finally form emotional connections with the characters. Maria V. Snyder wisely uses this part of the novel to intersperse the needed exposition over the course of the next dozen pages. The effect is seamless as the reader never becomes aware of the author's measured manipulation of the plot.

As I became more familiar with the characters, I begin to discern some parallels between the characters. At first, I was fearful that these characters were reproductions of earlier characters from Maria V. Snyder's novels. Thankfully, there were enough differences later in the novel to rectify this problem which a lot of authors, including myself, seem to struggle with. When you've read enough books by a certain writer, you tend to start noting some similar traits being used for similar characters. Yes, Avry might seem to have some qualities that Yelena had except she seems more spunky. Also, some of the trials that Avry encounters would have been resolved differently by Yelena. Moreover, I'm pretty sure that Avry or Yelena would not be able to navigate the air-duct system that Trella, from the Inside Out/Outside in series, is pretty adept at finding secret passageways in. The core struggle for all these female characters is seeking power and confidence in disillusioning circumstances.

Each novel represented a different metaphor for different challenges that individuals must internally face to realize their full potential. Within the Study series, Yelena learns different aspects of magic as if to reflect the intricate process of self-discovery that Yelena undergoes throughout the novel. While in the Glass series, Opal learns the limits of her glass magic. Part of her struggle related to feeling unimportant in a world of magicians that seemed remarkably more powerful than she is. The glass orbs that she later utilizes as part of her glass magic could represent her "ego." She could become greatly corrupted by the intensity of magic if she allows her egotistical side to dominate. Glass,like our egos, are fragile and thus need to be cared for with prudence and a considerate mind for others. While Trella within the Inside Out/Outside in series is horrified by the political corruption of her world so she begins to live an insular life within the air-ducts of her world to hide herself away from the external world. Throughout the novels, she learns to use these air-ducts not to exacerbate her feelings of isolation from the chaotic world, but to learn to use her intrinsic powers to improve her exterior world which will allow herself to fully exist both outside and inside of herself.

Within Touch of Power, Avry learns about the plague of violence and egotism that seems to have literally plagued her world. Similarly to the Hunger Games novels, the political structure of her world has become fractious. It is a deeply polarized world due to the grave fear of this mysterious plague. For both Avry and the reader, we ask questions about the origins of this plague. Perhaps, the plague originates from some institution or individual that she was once enamored with. Like ourselves, Avry desperately wishes for civility within this chaotic world of hers. She is deeply frustrated by the limitations of her magic which she wishes could effect miraculous change upon this unsettled exterior world of hers. Throughout the novel, Avry must learn more about the nuances of herself and others while coming to grips with the profound limits of her magic. At the end of the novel, we are left with hints about a sequel that promises to unravel more significant details about this new fictional world that Maria V. Snyder has brought to life with vivid detail.

Overall, I really loved acquainting myself with a new slew of diverse characters. As always, the dialogue was witty, and often made me laugh aloud which resulted in questionable stares from people around me.(Why are people so confused about the fact that books can actually make people laugh?") While, there were some striking similarities between some of the characters in this novel, and others: there was a clear evidence that Maria V. Snyder definitely strove to make many of them have enough differences so that this really did not become too problematic. If you need something richly entertaining, and generally fun to read, I highly recommend that you read this novel or any of her novels.

Thank you Harlequin for the ARC, and for continuing to publish these fantastic books that debunk any myths about the Harlequin label!!

2011-12-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

The Wolf Gift Countdown:

Anne Rice "Wolf Gift" Signing in Philly: A Real Upcoming Event!!

Philly has often been overlooked by publishers when book tours of any kind are formed. The reason for this could possibly lie with Philly's proximity to New York where most book tours commence. I couldn't believe my eyes several days ago when seeing for myself that the signing that I had hypothetically written about a few weeks ago had become a very real thing. Part of me wondered if my post had any influence on the decision to have the Philly signing occur on the official release date of "The Wolf Gift." Hopefully, I'm not being boastful in any way, but there is definitely a chance that some individuals connected with Anne Rice's publisher might have very well read that post, and have been inspired to plan a signing at the very location that I suggested. Then again, the Philadelphia Free Library has had a slew of several famous writers as it is the main venue for book-signings within the city.

Anyways, for all Philly residents, this is very exciting news either way!! If you live within the area, and happen to be an Anne Rice fan, I implore you to consider attending the signing because it will be worth the admittance price to meet such a talent.

Here are the details for the signing, taken from the Free Library of Philadelphia site:
Date and Time: Tuesday, February 14, 2011 at 7: 30pm.
Prices: 7 dollars for Students, and 15 dollars: General Admission.
Additionally, tickets go on sale January 12, 2012 at 10 am.

By the way, another new post will appear tomorrow that will relate with the ongoing discussion about "death" that reappears within Anne Rice's books. How does this relate with the mummies? Why were the Egyptians so fastidious when embalming bodies and preserving them in the hopes that they'd properly enter the afterlife? What does their idea of the afterlife consist of? How does it differ from our Mainstream ideas?

2011-12-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

"The Wolf Gift" Countdown:

Mummy Month Part 1:

Review of Anne Rice's "The Mummy"

Nearly all Anne Rice's books are seemingly conventional though she usually employs unconventional elements, philosophical concepts, and colorful characters to differentiate the story from other novels that feature witches, vampires, mummies, etc. Anne Rice's "The Mummy," or Ramses the Damned follows this same formula and thus might appear formulaic if you're familiar with her novels. In actuality, this novel contains its own unique paradigm with different types of characters and far more action sequences than "Interview with the Vampire." In many ways, this novel is stylistically similar to "The Tale of the Body Thief" where there were many more fast-paced action sequences than the usual Anne Rice book which are primarily filled with dialogue and descriptions that focus partially on the sensual details of her fictitious worlds, or philosophical questions. This isn't a criticism necessarily.These are the most rewarding elements that make her novels stand apart from other books.

From the beginning, the novel begins with the momentous discovery of Ramses the Damned's tomb. The main archaeologist, behind this discovery, happens to find written evidence that Ramses might have lived during Cleopatra's reign. Using meticulously researched historical facts, Anne Rice crafts a story that hypothetically explores the idea of the "mummy" of a famous pharaoh being an immortal. During this rather interesting beginning sequence, Anne Rice also constructs the template from which the 400-page novel will follow. Whether she outlines or not, the scene works perfectly as an effective beginning sequence that captures the reader's attention because it is staged to stir questions in our minds. Interestingly, we are vicariously discovering these archaeological finds which makes us raise some of the same questions that some of the characters form about these odd archaeological findings: How could Ramses have been able to live past his alleged death? Where is the irrefutable proof behind this?

After the beginning, the novel becomes very rapidly paced as more elements of the story are slowly unraveled. Using a mummy analogy, the mummy's white linen much like the story itself is slowly unwrapped till we behold the whole story which still elicits questions even when we finally come upon the resolution. Another effective element within Anne Rice's novels, especially "The Mummy," lies with her ability to incorporate exposition without hindering the flow of the story. Some writers tend to inundate the reader with meaningless exposition whereas Anne Rice, and several other writers with similar talent (Madeleine L'Engle, Margaret Atwood,etc.) artfully place the exposition in places which bolster the quality of the story rather than make the exposition appear too contrived. Perhaps, the reason behind this lies with the ability for these writers to focus more upon "showing" us the story that unfolds in their mind rather than forcefully pull together something mainly for financial compensation.

One of the drawbacks of the novel though for me was the way Julie Stratford, one of the main female characters within the stories, partly disappears from the second part of the story as if she was only an important force within the first part of the story. During the first half, Julie Stratford remains one of Anne Rice's more dynamic female characters who is an active participant during this segment of the story. Towards the end, she seems to slowly fade into the background and thus loses the capacity for further development. Perhaps, the reason for this lies behind a greater focus on another female character (whose name will not be revealed due to my anti-spoiler policy). Or, Anne Rice unconsciously focused more upon the characters who were integral to the main plot though I thought Julie Stratford was a fairly important piece to the novel. She seems to be eclipsed by that other female character "whose name, again is "She who shall not be known.. spoilers."

Overall, I loved the recurrent philosophical discussions about "death," and how the inevitability of death shapes our lives. Would immortality have a greater ability to grant us more time to create more meaning? Or does the longevity of our lives only contribute to the overweening melancholy that occasionally fills our lives? Anne Rice's novels has always been about escaping the imminent nihilism that floods our lives. Her vampires metaphorically depend upon "human blood" or vitality to sate our hungry spirit that earnestly searches for meaning. Her mummies are no different: They need a myriad number of pleasures to imbue them with satisfaction that eliminates the moroseness of an unfulfilled life spent reflecting upon the possibility that life itself might be overwhelmingly purposeless. All Anne Rice's books are illustrative of this necessity to live a purposeful existence to purge this fear that can leave us as comatose as Louis in "Interview with the Vampire" because he refused himself those carnal pleasures that might have kept him divided from the dark thoughts of existence.

Overall, this book has a frenetic pace and it is very well structured! It comes highly recommended as a book to savor while waiting impatiently for "The Wolf Gift:" It's coming out Feb. 14, 2012!!!!! That is a little less than two months from now.

2011-12-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

TOR/Macmillian features Madeleine L'Engle Reread Series!

Right now, there is ongoing discussion about several Madeleine L'Engle titles. As of now, there are two posts dedicated to Camilla and Both were Young. I highly recommend for people to read these posts especially if you happen to be a fan of Madeleine L'Engle's works as I am. Sometime in March, due to the anniversary of "Wrinkle In Time, I'll have a number of comprehensive posts in celebration of this momentous occasion.

2011-12-01T13:38:00.000-08:00

A Ring of Endless Light Review:

The earth will never be the same again.
Rock, water, tree, iron share this grief
As distant stars participate in pain.
A candle snuffed, a falling star or leaf,
A dolphin death, O this particular loss
Is Heaven-mourned; for if no angel cried,
If this small one was tossed away as dross,
The very galaxies then would have lied.
How shall we sing our love's song now
In this strange land where all are born to die?
Each tree and leaf and star show how
The universe is part of this one cry,
That every life is noted and cherished,
And nothing loved is ever lost or perished. (p. 166)

As evidenced in the poem above, Madeleine L’Engle was definitely endowed with a true gift of writing lucidly and poetically. Also, she brought much desired depth and artistic ambiguity to the world of Christian fiction that often suffers from being didactic. To be fair, many writers from different religious and ideological backgrounds struggle with this problem. Often, our insular worldview presents itself as a preachy voice that is jarring to the flow of any story that we set out to write. It takes a while for many writers to overcome these problems and focus entirely on the shaping of deeply complex human characters who are never superficial. One of the greatest examples of a writer who could naturally fit their ethical message into the framework of the story was Charles Dickens and his wonderful novel, Hard Times. In that, we see proof that its possible for an ethical message to be intertwined with the content of the story in a way that is natural and seamless.

Madeleine L’Engle always incorporates her Christian worldview into her novels in a way that greatly enhances her work. As an agnostic or seeker who has no definitive views on religion, I find the Christian message of hers to be very nuanced. It is not Christian in the way we often see it being poorly represented by fundamentalist groups. Madeleine L’Engle instead focuses on the sacred mystery of God rather than the God of certitude and firm belief. Her God often makes us feel healthfully doubtful more than feel tritely fullfilled. It is this intellectual humility present in her spiritual beliefs that often did not make me feel uncomfortable. Instead, the humility of her writing focuses more on the universal struggle for meaning rather than a struggle exclusive to Christianity. Remarkably, St. Augustine often depicted all people, regardless of religion, as struggling to follow the good intentions of their soul rather than the bad intentions. We are all meaning-seeking creatures.

In Ring of Endless Light, there are no silly arbitrary classifications between Christian, atheist, and agnostic. Instead, Madeleine L’Engle presents a world with humans who are valiantly struggling to comprehend this chaotic world that we’ve miraculously find ourselves in. Vicky Austin, the main female voice of the story, represents the most inquisitive individual of the story. Recently, the reality of death is threatening her tidy worldview. Fascinatingly, Vicky has three guys who are vying for her attention. The father to one of them had recently died when rescuing Zack, the atheistic voice of the story. On the other hand, Adam portrays the openness of the world of nature. Adam struggles with all the same existentialistic questions that plague Vicky’s artistic mind. Yet, he studies the dolphins and tries to see how they come to grips with death.

Many Christian books never appear to present the true difficulties that plague human existence. Except, many of these struggles over doubt and depression seem to vanish once someone is “born again.” Madeleine L’Engle’s books never end the lifelong struggle of trying to comprehend the world and God. If anything, our relationship with God is never static. It is always evolving. In “Ring of Endless Light,” we are given the far more artful portrait of this struggle. There are no clear answers. Within Ring of Endless Light, we are instead given the opportunity to accept the fact that our doubts or thoughts revolving around the divine are never settled. They are merely the dynamics of this existence within a world that is so vast and incomprehensible.

There is a rich subtlety and silence within many parts of this book. One of my favorite character was Vicky Austin’s grandfather who represents the epitome of a good minister. Her grandfather refuses to define God or have his faith hinge on a certain litany of beliefs. Instead, her grandfather’s spiritual belief represents the wisest form of spirituality that accepts the mystery and finds solace in the search for theoretical answers to those big questions. In Vicky’s world, spirituality can be constrained by religious legalism and even rigid atheism. By condensing the spiritual search to a “Yes” or “No,” question about whether or not he/she/ it “exists,” we are greatly denying our place in the universe. We are a mote of dust that contains a lot of depth. If we fail to understand others adequately, How can we be so confident about what or who God is?It is our greatest pitfall that limits our ability to see the “ring of endless light” hiding beneath the fabric of the supposed meaningless universe. Like Shakespeare, Madeleine L’Engle’s way of showing us God is not by telling us about God, but showing us a reflection of our difficult lives where we are constantly wrestling with these complicated matters about "Why we are even here?" "Does death equal dissolution into nothingness?" We don't just have certain recycled answers that we're always complacent with. Lately, it seems like that is all that people do at church: Find complacency in easy beliefs to insure we're going to heaven. Yet, How can we ever be so certain in a universe so much bigger than ourselves?

To me, this book is the pinnacle of Madeleine L’Engle’s literary successes that masterfully evokes the experience of the universal search for meaning within this world. All aspiring writers should read Madeleine L’Engle to learn the art of creating stories that grant us an emotional experience rather than give us direct answers about things we cannot possibly fathom.

2011-11-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

Senseless Violence

The sound of gunshots pierced my ears-

Jarred me

I was permanently sleepless as long

As this cruel rhythm sounded incessantly

Through this wasteland of bodies

Piled carelessly about me

As I near my death,

I prayed to God for mercy

While others prayed for the deaths of the supposed enemy...

One cries aloud:
"Oh God, I beseech you to spare me...love me.."

Another screams aloud for the courage to

Blow their enemy to smithereens...

Another solider with two fatal wounds regretfully

Prays to no one

He only fantasizes one last time

About that wife that he might never see again

Why were we sent here?
From the age of two, I was bred

On the notion of warfare

Being the epitome of the glorified man

Wouldn't Jesus be proud that I killed countless people
Without any discretion or any reflection

Upon their individual depth?

I believed blindly in this violent purpose for myself

I convinced myself that they were the enemy-

Kill, or be Killed-
That was really the edict of this land

My commander instructed me that this was God 's work-

Except, that holy book

Vaguely stated that murder was wrong
I was deluded by new theology of course

Spoken in the gruff sincerity of God's elect

As my comrades around me slowly bleed to death,

I could only proclaim:

"Go to hell, God!"

God was probably already there

-Condemned by his own followers to perdition

How could anyone sent
Into the blistering nightmare of war

Of war clutch such contradictory truths?
Was this it? I had to blindly believe
Just to reconcile this violence

In such a contrived way

Senseless.... Oh Lord,
This obligatory violence in my life is senseless

All around me, there is no healing

Just blood and torn limbs

Of all your broken soldiers
We thought we were the pawns of you

But really, we are the slaves of man

If you're there, save us from this unholy mess

For we are being skewered

In Jesus's name,

Amen

2011-11-30T19:28:00.000-08:00

An Assassin's Lament

Love poems are always stuffed

Full of "Bloody" Romantic Melodrama

That is so nauseating

To the extent where the erotic touch wanes

Whereupon the romance suddenly

Transforms into something wretched-

Utter Vermin

How do I love?

With this murderous streak thundering through my mind

Its an uncontrollable desire that overtakes

And asserts its indomitable will

Murder satiates

Its my gory output

That has no sensual overtones

Though, that same tingle of warmth

Coils around my nerves

When I hear that pained groan

Attempting to escape their body's

Ultimate submission into death-

That scream:-

-Oh, that woeful, plaintive scream-

It sounds like my cold spirit

Solemnly singing its sonorous song

Sometimes tears tear through the eye's protective barrier

It threatens to break my terrifying facade

That wears the face of Macbeth

Whom relished the deaths

Though his spirit ranted and raved:

"Why have I done this?"

His gracious lady wore the indelible mark of his guilt

Red Blood of the despots he killed-

This same paint corrodes my soul

Luscious, red blood covers that

Unknown essence deep within this material body:

The wretched thing we title the

Vessel, the cage

Where life inexplicably was entrapped in from birth

As my dead victim,

Lies cradled in my arm
With blood permeating my hands

In the style of Lady Macbeth

I witness the damned sign

Of my Future form

Every-time I cruelly murder a life,

I see my death right before my eyes

Yet escape it all the same

I lament that I can no longer process

This burdensome phenomenon

Oh, the paradox of existence

How can we be living with abundant meaning

Only to sink away into the black waters

Of a Meaningless Demise

I don't care if these people die because

They've vanished

Poof! Their mark upon the world is not permanent

Unless they had profound notoriety

Otherwise, they sink away slowly

To the pulsing rhythm of this dying world

Which slowly vanishes from the sight of

No living soul who would have died

Before the sun extinguishes its light

If only, I had the spiritual eyes

To discern past this oblivion and

See something far beyond

The nothingness to find

That something tucked

Beneath the dreaded veil of death

2011-11-30T11:07:00.000-08:00

Wolf Gift Countdown:February 14th, 2012

Vampire/Mummy Month: December 2011

Anne Rice Book-signings: A Very Real Possibility

As we all impatiently..patiently await the release of Anne Rice's "Wolf Gift," many fans are probably speculating about potential book signings. Normally, publishers devise some kind of promotional tour for authors in promotion of their recent book. It is all part of advertising the book because it stokes interest and excitement for the new book. Unfortunately, the changing book market which seems to becoming more focused on e-books over physical books seems to be giving publishers solid reasons to extricate funds normally set aside that are specifically used for book signings. While I greatly love my Kindle, (which I hope to review in-depth in the coming weeks) the greatest disadvantage for the devices is the inability to have your books signed with traditional pen or sharpie marker. Sue Dent, author of the recently published Electric Angel, came up with a solution. She had a virtual signing done via webcam and electronic copies were digitally signed.

To me, there still does not seem to be that great sense of realism. Yes, you still get to have a short conversation with the writer but it is not comparable to a real book signing where you interact with fans prior to the signing. Surely, virtual signings are a wonderful solution for people who live in rural areas of the country who are unable to attend physical signings due to inability to travel far distances. For those people, like me, who love real book-signings, virtual book signings are largely an inferior option.

Approximately one year ago, I was given the opportunity of meeting Anne Rice who seemed positively overjoyed to meet her fans. We were all excited to meet the author whose books gave us many sleepless nights of entertaining reading. Again, I don't think a virtual signing compares with an actual signing. Its very similar to watching low-quality live performances of your favorite band. Where is the ambiance of a room full of thrilled fans? You can't grasp that energy when you're watching a performance through a video or going to a virtual book signing in your pajamas. It all seems sub-par to the real thing!

So, what are Anne Rice's schedule as of now. According to her website, there are no specific details as of recent about any planned book signings for "The Wolf Gift" Within the comment area, I want to hear your wild ideas about potential places to be placed on Anne Rice's tour calendar. Anne Rice is not involved with the process of forming any tour calendars. Additionally, she does not do lavish signings anymore with genuine New Orleans jazz bands or funeral proceedings (Anne Rice actually use to come to book-signings in a casket which is quite befitting of her). Either way, use Google or any other resources available to you to find potential book stores. Be brave, and send inquiries to these bookstores through email and ask if they're interested in hosting an Anne Rice signing. Additionally, offer them the email address of Kim Thornton who deals specifically with interview or promotional things for Anne Rice's releases. Her email address can be found on Anne Rice's website on the sidebar which is labeled "Interviews."
Who knows? Your email could help bring forth plans for a signing at that bookstore you thought Anne Rice would never visit in a million years.

Here is my own personal wish for a potential tour stop for Anne Rice's book signing: Since I live in the Philly region, I would love for Anne Rice to have a book signing at the Free Library of Philadelphia . There are definitely enough things for Anne Rice to do in Philadelphia. Seeing as she loves to explore old churches, we have a beautiful church which dates from the colony days. It is called Christ Church and it carries a lot of history. Moreover, we have the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Philadelphia Art Museum which will soon be having a Van-Gough gallery. This art museum recently had an Rembrandt gallery with mainly Jesus paintings that were formerly not exhibited to the public. Readers of Anne Rice are well-aware of her love for history therefore having a signing in Philadelphia seems like a natural choice.

Certainly, many fans reading this have cities nearby that carry it's own unique history. Therefore, when you comment, please include some potential historical sites that Anne Rice might be interested in when visiting your city on a specific leg of the "Wolf Gift" Tour.

Coming soon to my blog: An article about the "enigmatic" Cleopatra that was far more than just a "femme-fatale." The historical Cleopatra was a powerful, imposing figure!! This will launch my series of posts on "Ramses the Damned or The Mummy"

2011-11-28T10:11:00.000-08:00

Note to Readers of "A Bibliophile's Reverie"

I've been struggling to juggle all the tasks that must be completed before the end of my semester. Once I get to the blog, all my creative energy is expended. Since, I want my posts be high quality and not the product of a lack of inspiration: I'm making some needed alterations to my schedule for the "Wolf Gift" Countdown. Instead of having it begin in November as originally planned, the countdown officially begins this month. Now, the three supernatural entities/individuals/creatures will be vampires/mummies for the month of December, witches for January, and werewolves for February (during the month when "Wolf Gift" is slated to release.

Please be patient with me as I slowly, but surely finish all my college assignments. This time is very hectic for college students. My whole semester itself has been jam-packed with about four heavy-duty literature courses. By the time, I'm able to read anything for potential review upon this blog; I'm so thoroughly exhausted with reading that I have to read something that piques my interest. It cannot be another book that I must force myself through in order to adequately access it.

Thank you for your understanding!! "A Bibliophile's Reverie has only been on hiatus recently not because I've abandoned any plans of reviewing anything!! Soon enough, I'll be back with many posts!!

Until then, Prepare yourself for vampires and mummies this month!!!

2011-10-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

A Bibliophile's Reverie's "Countdown to "The Wolf Gift" Begins Tomorrow...

On Valentine's Day, during the year of the impending 2012 apocalypse, Anne Rice plans to release a book which features werewolves for she has decided once again to move onto to a new cosmology with a new breed of enigmatic creatures. In lieu of this release and Alfred K. Knopf's recently release synopsis with new tantalizing details about the novel, I am launching four themed months that encompass all of Anne Rice's supernatural creatures as "The Wolf Gift" symbolizes Anne Rice's courageous return to the creatures of the night or the "sinful aberrations" cast out by pious society. These creatures are consciously aware that they cannot inhabit the world of daytime much like King Hamlet's ghost or the band of twisted, contradictory witches from Macbeth

During each of these months, I will feature detailed posts about the history of each of these creatures and how Anne Rice has refashioned them to fit within her fictitious universe. Also, I'll strive to review any notable works that include different interpretations of these creatures.

As of now, the supernatural creatures/individuals being represented are...

November=Mummies
December=Vampires
January=Witches (I'm required then to review Roald Dahl's The Witches!!!!)
February= Werewolves (Review of Anne Rice's "The Wolf Gift," Posts about the philosophy of "The Wolf Gift, and hopefully an interview with Anne Rice herself)

If you haven't already, click the book cover below for "The Wolf Gift" to read the details that Alfred K. Knopf, the publishers of Anne Rice's books, have happily released about the novel itself:

2011-10-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

Never Enough

Every occurrence of writing
Makes me feel abashed
For I have to shed some unexpressed feelings and
Weave them into a poetic tapestry that is
Both beguiling and bewildering

After my hands leave the keyboard and
The Poem lies in finished form
Before my dispirited eyes
I can only feel pain that
Now everyone can discern past the
Enticing metaphors and
See directly into my core

Writing should be a private love affair
Behind Closed doors
Where the writer consummates with their lusty muse
To conceive a written work
Filled with nuances that hint at
A deeper significance that lies beneath

Sometimes, my prose is overwrought
To the extent where it overreaches its
Intended goal
Other times, I can just imagine
The disapproval of my disastrous work
Laying in a pretentious heap
On the floor of the motel room
Where my muse and I
Worked tirelessly to create
Something poignant

Why do I share these precious works of mine?
What is this burdensome artistic incline
That strives to share these meaningless
Pieces of pedantic poo
Tomorrow morning, I could care less
If the maid who periodically cleans
My rented motel rooms
Discards these pieces of
Used Toilet Paper

Even as my writing leaves me unsatisfied
I still have this insatiable desire to have another
Romp with my muse-
All writers desire this cathartic release
Because we thrive off the ecstasy of
That climatic moment where our work
Beautifully comes together
Writing is our elixir, our passion
In the end, we just cannot get enough

2011-10-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Through the Narrow Gate

With a stuttered heart and

a careful exhalation of this fragile breath

I beheld my dead aunt with these lifeless eyes

Tears trickled down my marble cheeks

Then, I carefully sniffled

To recapture my lost breath

For, I’m not ready to lie motionless

Before so many fear stricken faces and

Pretend that I am somewhere safe

Outside this present nightmare

Suddenly, a curmudgeonly pastor

Adorned with bleak blackness

Ascended the stage before my aunt’s

Bedraggled Body

It was a welcoming sight because-

Didn’t pastors pacify

This unsettling grief

Of course, his words were reverent

Flowery descriptions of my aunt’s empathy

Flowered the desolate wasteland of my

Deathly thoughts

Flowers overflowed in excess in this church

To ward away the melancholy that visits us

They were affixed to the windows

Acting as sentries to watch

For the malevolent forces of the outside world-
These fiends cannot even enter through the

Small crack of these immaculate sheets of

Grime-less Glass

Eventually, the chilling air of

This cloistered church

Confined me to the coldness of my

Corrosive Mind

The seemingly warm pastor

Transfigured himself into death itself

While he invoked the indignant spirit

Of his supposed Imperturbable God

A hint of mournful surrender
Entered his voice

While he solemnly spoke about

The many people unlike my aunt

Who cannot partake in communion and exist

Beyond this temporal state of tragedy

Only we are entrusted with the secret knowledge

To pass through the narrow gate between

Death and the unknown

We that are few in number will

Bask in God’s glory

While the rest fall into a state

Of Sleep where they’ll

Never be remembered

Or have a chance to be loved

Everyone in the church produced

A facsimile of Mary’s smile

While I struggled in vain

With my resilient empathy

For all the lost sheep

Whom never found the serenity

That salvation supposedly insures

My heart tugged at my eyes and

Flooded them with waters

Which the elect like Noah

Masterfully Evaded

By receiving favor in God’s eyes-

Why didn’t he care at all for those he left behind?

Oh God, Where are my friends?

Have they been deemed worthy of damnation

Because their inquisitive minds

Couldn’t properly believe in you.

If this blissful eternity requires

A large number of your flock

Falling into the abyss of the Forgotten

Then, I refuse to be trapped forever in this false joy

As the funeral gathering reveled in their God-granted gladness

I ripped down a few flowers obscuring the windows

And peered into Perdition

Through the unfathomable depths of these shadows

Ghostly apparitions of the damned appear

They were undergoing the second death-

Signified by their tortured cries

That shook the aura of peace

Emanating within the stronghold of this church

Again, the semblance of sadness

Threatened to overfill my soul

In retaliation of this jubilant body

Which urged me onwards back into the

Pocket of endless joy

Within the church

I tore at more of the the flowers

Yet they continued to grow back

Frustrated,I screamed madly

As I forced my thoughts to deeply empathize

With the perished souls outside these windows

For one fleeting moment, they grasped for God’s

Loving hands only to

Find themselves dissipating into the darkness

Till they were no more-

They were the unforgiven, and the forgotten

Fracturing the window

My repressed sadness was awakened-

Tears spilled from my bleary eyes

Screams issued from my unholy lips

Matching the frequency and terror of those

Left Outside

Without realizing it, I was suspended in the darkness

Floating away from the church

A number of disparate spirits

Filled my Morose gaze

They upheld me-My friends

Together, we would soon fade into the darkness

Forlornly, I looked at the church-

The Dear Departed one

That refused to Love in the name of

Selfishly seeking “salvation”

They passed over us like

Those who suffered from Leprosy

My leprosy was the infection of love

Love that refused to part

With my brother’s just so I could

Eternally indulge in the gifts of the sainted heaven

Oh friends, embrace me once more

There still lies hope

That there lies another minute crack

Along this Deceptively Dark Gate

Far beyond our earthly senses

2011-10-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

Link to other blog: Agnostic Inner Sanctum (Click the brilliant Rembrandt painting below!)

I'm posting this if you're interested in reading posts from my other blog:: The Agnostic Inner Sanctum. Earlier this year, I separated the more religious posts from the literary ones because some people find honest religious discussion disconcerting. My other blog is one of my most challenging blogs to post on because I'm always hindered by the "fear" of other people's reactions. Sadly, its still ingrained in me, from my Christian upbringing, that expressing doubt in Christianity is a chief evil. Now, I currently don't believe in that at all or probably never did authentically. But, its still hard for any person to work against neurotic thought processes inherited from their childhoods.

It will be offensive to some people because humanity is ironically offensive to itself. Oftentimes, people don't want to encounter people's honest views because we'd rather hide ourselves underneath those lavish masks provided at Capulet's masquerade party. Sometimes, I think that we need to reread Shakespeare,the Greek rationalists, or the Old Testament stories and see that these people are truly human and not a bunch of uncomplicated "believers" in a religion. Of course, no Christian is "uncomplicated," just like no human is. But often, I think we forget this when we're instructed from the pulpit to strive towards having unwavering belief to insure that we're going to heaven.

Karen Armstrong marvelously details the problems that plague religion presently. This is an illuminating speech and Karen Armstrong is a very bright person who really seems to understand the problems that strain religions.

2011-10-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

Anne Rice's fans have requested me to conduct a
survey to determine which of Anne Rice's heart-throbs is their favorite. The three choices are Matt Bomer, Richard Armitage, and that damned, elusive "Scarlett Beckett!"

You can only vote once so take great care in choosing. Soon enough, the results will be sent to Anne Rice and she'll then devote her attention to one of these heart-throbs.

To vote, Click on one of the heart-throbs below!

Choice A) The Scarlet Beckett

Choice B) Richard Armitage

Choice C) Matt Bomer

2011-09-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Anne Rice's Facebook Social Club (Formerly unpublished article)

Author's Note: For some time, I've been hanging unto this unpublished article from my Journalism class. For some reason, many newspapers never showed any inkling of interest within this article. Since, I don't think it deserves to remain hidden after all the effort put into it; I've decided to publish it here on my blog. For people who have not visited Anne Rice's page before, click the picture of Anne Rice above to access her infamous Facebook page!

Anne Rice’s Facebook Social Club

Authors are often depicted as disheveled hermits who are homebound and withdrawn. They are stereotypically aloof. Best-selling authors rarely converse with common people.
Anne Rice is different. The author of the legendary hit “Interview with the Vampire,” loves interacting with her legion of mere mortals who adore her work. By nature, Anne Rice is an audacious figure.

Perhaps it should be no surprise than that Anne Rice publicly criticized the casting of Tom Cruise as the vampire Lestat. When doing this, she took space out in a newspaper to describe her dislike for the casting choice. After seeing a rough cut of the film, directed by Neil Jordan, Anne Rice changed her original feelings after being “thoroughly impressed with Tom Cruise’s wonderful performance.”

Recently, Anne Rice has found herself back in the media’s spot light after leaving Catholicism, her childhood religion. This news came two years after the publication of her memoir Called Out of Darkness where she sentimentally described her return to Catholicism.

Before this news reached popular news outlets, the message that announced this decision was posted as a status on her Facebook page. Anne Rice then had no idea that this Facebook status would spawn the attention it earned. Newspapers from all reaches of the globe were printing the story a little time after Anne Rice posted the status.

Her openness with fans though has been a large part of her appeal. In the nineties, it was not altogether abnormal for her to hold huge celebrations upon the release of a recent novel.

For example, when “Menmoch the Devil,” was published, Anne Rice transformed a small part of New Orleans into a mini Mardi gras celebration. She titled this celebration “Menmoch Ball,” after the demon that Lestat, the vampire, encounters within the novel.

Before Anne Rice entered the venue, she was carried in a casket and followed by a jazz band. The whole shebang celebrated the omnipresent New Orleans atmosphere of her novels and the macabre elements as well.

Now Anne Rice has grown weary of these celebrations due to diabetes. Therefore, she greatly limits her travels. Facebook though has allowed her to maintain that contact without the strain of traveling.

On Facebook, Anne Rice can easily communicate with fans without worries of travel restrictions. Easily, a person from some far-away country like Greece could interact with her in seconds.

Upon her page, fans commonly sprinkle her wall with general questions about her books, movie or novel suggestions, and interesting news articles. Anne Rice often will respond to some of these posts in a matter of minutes. Sometimes, she even shares these links or recommendations.

Mainly Anne Rice posts her thoughts or opinions on the Facebook page. Sometimes these thoughts have film or book suggestions. Or, she includes her opinion on a recent news article that particularly resonated with her.

“I’ve always been an obsessive person with a need to talk about my obsessions. I can go on my page and ask about the definition of conscience, and find myself in a fabulous discussion of what this means to others,” Rice commented

Similarly to the way Anne Rice treated her fans as friends within the past. Anne Rice identifies her Facebook fans as “people of the page.” With nearly every post, she tries to persuade all of these individuals to participate.

Within the past year, this receptiveness with her fans has caused the number of page fans to reach nearly 176,000 members. Not all of these members are fans of her novel. They are fans of both her honesty and authenticity.

“She is very honest with who she is, what she stands for, and what she will not stand for,” said Glenn Wood, a “person of the page.”

This brutal honesty may appear unexpected. But, this older Anne Rice is the same individual who had no reservations about responding to negative opinions of her book, “Blood Canticle.”

Back in 2004, Anne Rice wrote a lengthy response to fans who wrote scathing reviews of

the final installment of her series, the Vampire Chronicles. She did not necessarily respond to their dislike. Instead, she was responding to unsubstantiated opinions. In her belief, all reviews should be substantive to some extent.
Recently, these unsubstantiated remarks about her have sprung up on Facebook. Her audacity often provokes some of her critics to respond either on blogs or on her page.

Christopher Rice, Anne Rice’s son and fellow writer, sometimes worries about his mother’s safety due to her forthrightness. “I've always been concerned about someone unstable trying to do her harm. It's something that's pained me my entire life,” said Christopher Rice.

Even with this familial concern, Christopher Rice does believe that the atmosphere on his mother’s page is very civil.

Anne Rice does not feel inhibited by the presence of these negative opinions. “I’m close to 70 years old. I trust myself. Some people are much more tentative and cautious. They aren’t willing to expose themselves and perhaps they shouldn’t,” said Rice.

At this point in time, Anne Rice is busy working on a new novel about immortals who will not kill in order to survive. She hopes to involve some of her new thoughts and questions about Christianity within the novel.

As to whether the Facebook page deprives her of time to write, her son feels that his mother could become Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind, who never wrote another novel due to trying to answer every piece of fan mail.

Anne Rice does not feel troubled by this concern. Instead, she feels that her interaction with fans on Facebook has been very inspiring. “I can share reviews of books, good and bad, and learn from the comments. One perspective will be balanced by another,” said Rice.

2011-09-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

Anne Rice's "Wolf Gift" is being released February 14th, 2012 just in time for the 2012 Apocalypse!!

Whether Anne Rice is a strategist or not, she seems to be acutely aware of the waning vampire craze and the increasing popularity of werewolves. Or, she might have finally succumbed to that inner artistic desire to write a series about another supernatural creature. Either way, Anne Rice's new werewolf book is something I'm not just lightly hyping but impatiently waiting for. Certain reliable sources from her Facebook page have alluded to the fact that the book might be approximately 600 pages which is the length of one of her later Vampire Chronicle novels: Blackwood Farm.

Knowing Anne Rice's tendency to involve philosophical and psychological concepts in her novel, I'm sure "Wolf Gift" won't merely be an artless bloodbath. Speculation aside as to the format or content of the book, I'm sure that whatever type of story we get will be something worthwhile and provocative.

Due to the upcoming release, I'll be continuing my "Memnoch the Devil" discussion posts and also beginning a discussion series on both "The Vampire Lestat" and "Queen of the Damned," as well. With college, the posts won't nearly be as numerous as during summer break.

When February truly comes upon us, be on the lookout for many surprises on this blog that are relevant to the "Wolf's Gift." If anyone is willing to share their expertise on werewolf lore and would love to contribute a guest post related with Anne Rice's universe, please contact me at narniafanatic(at)gmail(dot)com.

Geek: Event Coverage - MTV Games - Full Episodes

2011-09-15T16:20:00.000-07:00

Unorthodox Fairy Tale:

Note: During the progress of writing this poem, I kept applying the wrong gender pronouns to each character. Thus, if there is a mistake, it is completely unintentional.

Once upon a time

Within an idyllic kingdom

That bordered the other Kingdoms

That suffered from the plague of serfdom

Lived the least masculine prince ever:

Prince Danielle

Within one of the corruptive kingdoms,

An abrasive princess neither slept eternally

Nor accepted dowries

With the dreaded bonus of

An aged, royal bedmate

Her name had a bold masculine ring to it

She was the deceptively dainty princess

Named Dan

On one of Danielle’s excursion’s to buy some books,

A Vicar passed with his refined religious robes

To comment upon Danielle’s grave transgressions:

“Danielle, Do you not know that the Lord

Requires you to take up arms

For fight in the defense of his name and his devotees?

Also, you might want to respectfully alter your name, so

The Lord can remember that you are of the superior gender.”

Danielle weakly answered

“I profusely apologize for my transgression, Vicar.

But, I have not picked my name.

My dear mother who was burned at the stake

For having a heathen beard

Granted me this accursed feminine name.

Now, I am burdened with emotions and

A Pacifistic resignation from

The deadly art of war.”

The Vicar looked indignantly at the prince

Then he rebuked him:

“Well, you better find someone to marry sometime soon

Since, that is your requirement for living

If you refuse to behave in a way

More fitting to your gender.”

Danielle felt weary suddenly and rode off

Back to the castle

Once there, Danielle fitted himself with

His sinful hot pink night gown

Then, he resorted to closing his radiant rose drapes

So that the world could not see him outfitted

With such a tight-fitting night gown

Meanwhile, Dan brusquely commanded her troops to

March towards the kingdom where Danielle dwelled

She coveted other soldiers in other legions

For they had mightier swords than her

But no other man could compare

With her military prowess

For, she was one of the most formidable fighters

Within the realm

Danielle continued to restfully sleep

His snored sounded like a soprano vibrato

That beautifully echoed throughout his decorous bedroom

He dreamt of the day that a princess

Would venture to save him from

Some Dastardly foe who might

Threaten his life

While Danielle persistently slept,

The Vicar walked through the threshold of Danielle’s

Private Room quietly, but repulsively

The sinfulness of Danielle’s inner sanctum

Disturbed the vicar’s pious thoughts

As he crept closer to the slumbering Danielle

With the draught of death in hand

To subdue the existence

Of such a defiant creature of God

Dan instinctively knew that Danielle was in danger

So, she climbed the rose vines of Danielle’s rugged tower

Coming upon a small circular window,

She forcefully struck it with the sword

Tensely grasped in her right hand

The crashing sound of glass

Along with Danielle’s surprised shrieks

Indicated that she had successfully breached the area

Face-first, she plummeted into Danielle’s room

Where the vicar was caught Uncorking

The bottle of his toxic death draught

Made specifically for sinful aberrations

The vicar hoarsely yelled

“You’ll both burn in the fiery pits of hell

For not acting in accordance with the Lord’s commandments…”

Intervention of an ungodly source stopped the vicar short

As, Dan stabbed the vicar through the heart and

Watched the vicar’s red blood Permeate the room

She felt both relieved and gratified

Danielle trembled and walked over to his

Newfound hero Dan

He bemusedly appraised her muscular body, steely blue eyes, and

Cropped brown hair

He felt Danielle stiffen as he softly caressed

Her brawny shoulders

Finally, he had found his strapping princess

Outfitted in a sexy suit of armor

On the other hand, Dan felt her

Heart rate beat rapidly against her

Rough suit of armor

While glancing at Danielle’s long blonde hair, and

Radiant Green Eyes

She carefully reaffixed her sword into the sheath

Strapped to her hip

As they kissed, they had completely

Forgotten about their royal titles

Was Dan a courageous prince?

Or a subservient princess?

Who was Danielle then?

While they continued to kiss,

Both of them had accidentally discarded their worldly garments

At this point, who were they but two people who were

Acutely aware that they were content

2011-09-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Life's Paradox

In the beginning,

I was bewildered by the

Concepts of the Heaven and the Earth

But mostly, I was scared stiff

Of this voice that spoke within my head

Where was me before this initial awakening?

Is everything so grandiose yet so purposeless only when I think it so?

Whether 12,34,54,76…

I still see everything vaguely

Everything, including myself

Feels like one extensive dream

That I’m only aware of

When detached from this dream of reality

Descartes struggled futilely to distinguish

His place within the membrane of this dream

But finally, he succumbed to the dream’s

Testament of its tangibility

By saying “I think therefore I am!”

He admits that either our surroundings are real

While we’re not

Or, we’re fully aware of ourselves

But deluded by the mystifying visions

Of different interpretations of reality

Often, the feelings of reality are blistering

Then, I can fully find my bearings in one set perception

Only until reality becomes despondent

Then, I begin to reconsider

The actuality of all the things my mind

Believes it is remembering from some

Long-departed scheme of reality

In church, people plaintively beseech

The invincible being of God

Only to rename him as something visible:

His begotten son, Jesus

Because it gives reality greater visibility

Until the ecstasy of a good prayer dissipates and

Leaves us barren

When death encroaches,

Does our contemplation of reality end?

Can we no longer dream of feeling cemented in a true sense of being?

In death, is the nothingness so overwhelming

That nothing depicts it better than

To think of it as the unthinkable

State of Eternal Forgetfulness

Where will it go?

What am I without the illusion of being substantial?

Does my life inevitably cease its feeble crawl towards meaning?

From funerals I've attended, I coldly recall

A sonorous tune played by the organ who

Lamented this paradoxical death

Within a universe that bursts at the seams with

Different scientific theorems which shows

Causation for all things albeit

The source of all this meaning

When we die,

Our brains explode with our theories

Of how we’ll finally conclude

The answer to the perplexing riddle of life

Like stars before death, we’ll increase in size and proportion

With all the memories of our dream-like existence

Then, our brains stop triggering thoughts for ourselves

In our place, our empty bodies become

Black holes for the remainder of humanity

Who hope fervently that within our dead selves there lies

Minute Quantum remnants that will configure

Themselves into a new kind of existence

2011-08-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

Grave Expectations
Simon and Schuster graciously provided me a complimentary copy of this book. Thanks to them for this, even if my review is not exactly positive!!
From the outset, I was really curious about this book because its an example of a rising trend of authors rewriting certain classical works as supernatural thrillers. As I began reading the novel, my high interest decreased because it was nearly as clever nor as inventive as the title and creative premise suggested. Right from the beginning, you can see obvious parts of the original novel that remain intact and notice where certain supernatural elements substitute the more mundane elements of the originals. The writing itself is written in a more accessible, modern language than the original tales which may explain their wide appeal among readers.

   Except, the supernatural elements did not really enhance the books themselves, but rather muddled the meaning. At times, it felt like I was trying to extract the vital elements of the original story that have not somehow become elements borrowed from the large number of well-known horror stories. Certainly, the idea of Miss Havisham being a vampire appears appealing and oddly funny. Until, you remember that vampires have as of recent become so prominent in young-adult fiction that is does not seem clever anymore to add them to every book possible. (With that said, I still love Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles!)

    Instead, it just seems like these supernatural elements added to the book to appeal to a larger group of readers. Its almost as if they were redesigning it for a contemporary audience that might abhor the idea of reading the original novel by Dickens that they believe too be too ponderous and perhaps irrelevant. But, the idea of werewolves and vampires appearing alongside the original tale might prove to be too tantalizing for readers to overlook. They might very well pick up this book without even thinking of its origins as a well-known, but much hated required read in public school.

    Personally, I remember loving the experience of reading this story not because it was riveting but richly satisfying. For me, Sherri Browning Erwin's new version of the original tale seemed to be unnecessary especially since it really is the original novel with supernatural elements tacked on. Similarly, I found Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to be a humorous idea but having it be a whole novel in of itself seemed like fruitless labor on the author's part.

    Now, I saw glimpses of Sherri Browning Erwin's skilled writing while forcefully trying to read this novel. She certainly knows how to write with an intent on clarity and flow. She also does seem to have great expertise in maintaining Dicken's tone. But, the writing was not compelling to me because it did not bear any reflection of the author's spirit. When I read books, I want not only the story but some reflection of that artist's soul. This book as a result did not have that artistic significance that I long for within a novel. Hopefully, I'll get to read Sherri Browning Erwin's other novels, besides her classic novel rewrites. These books are just not what as a I reader want to read. For me, the best part of reading an author's novel is to read the stories that are the products of their minds. Certainly, some people will disagree but personally, I don't think this particular genre is for me. I still recommend this book only because I never dissuade people from something I subjectively found not to be very enjoyable.

2011-08-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

Review of Karen Armstrong's "History of God"

I cannot think of anything as daunting as writing an expansive history of the development of God. To the consternation of some narrow-minded Christians, Karen Armstrong writes about the development of God from the nuanced history of human intellect. Just as science is not immutable, our idea of God has been undergoing continuous change. Thinking of God as some curmudgeonly, static is not only unwise but a dishonest caricature of a far greater agnostic God that is shrouded in mystery.

Whenever we contemplate that nihilistic nothingness, we apprehend the unknowable reality of God. That cold bareness that imbues our soul whenever we try to constrain God into the barriers of our "one" language, we found ourselves becoming perturbed. Why can't God simply feel characteristically jealous, incensed, or happy just like we occasionally do? But, humans feel a greater range of emotions therefore that God who seems so obtuse and trite within the Bible only exists as a particular Biblical character's projection of God. For example, Noah's God gladly does Noah's bidding by destroying the heathen that he thinks little of. Noah is plagued with toxic egotism that later reveals itself in the later verses of that story when Ham finds him in a pitiful state of drunkenness. This Noah is the result of a woeful figure whom hated himself so much that he was unloving towards other. The world itself became hostile and Noah became increasingly more fatalistic because love for either himself and others has been absent. This tragic,insular psyche of Noah's is similar to that fish that consumes egocentric Jonah. Both of their worlds show a world without a healthy understanding of God.

We don't know the specifics unless we look at the importance of metaphorical language in the Bible. Karen Armstrong's book skillfully elaborates on the importance of understanding the artistic quality of the Bible's figurative language. Some Christians have artlessly leeched the Bible of any such subtlety and beauty by making the Bible become support for denouncing certain minorities or superficial causes like the supposed menace that Harry Potter poses against young, impressionable readers. These Christians sadly besmirch Christianity and give it a public reputation for being as obtuse as God appears within some of the Bible stories. Unfortunately, these Christians make the same mistake that the very human Biblical characters make in following their ego-God rather than a true enigmatic God.

Many people find fault with Karen Armstrong's depiction of an enigmatic God. Yet, we are being wholly dishonest by pretending that we have crafted some personalized view of God. Sadly, my experience with Christianity has been less about the merits of compassion and more about the importance of rightful belief as if your religious experience can be condensed to forcing your mind to accept abstruse doctrines about an intangible entity such as God. There are many emergent Christian groups that are struggling to make the Golden Rule a more dominant force within the religion. Far too many moral people, like Karen Armstrong, have found themselves being the enemy of Christianity for being intellectually humble and dangerously inquisitive. Sadly, our churches are as cavernous and dark just like the abysmal darkness that resides in that fish that swallowed Jonah.

Karen Armstrong's History of God serves as the thoughtful book that helps us leave that apocalyptic, egotistical Christianity that thrives on sinful certainty. It helps us realize that we are minuscule in the scheme of the cosmos. More importantly, it shows that the current predicament Christianity and other religions face are caused by clinging to archaic, childish ideas of God. When Christianity makes scientific reality something that should be ignored rather than revered, Christianity causes itself to lose credibility among anyone who strives to be both honest and humble. Interestingly, much of the Bible cautions against things like pride and meanness. Prudence was often a celebrated virtue by some Christian philosophers. Yet, when some Christians advocate believing in literal translations, they are doing something is both imprudent, dishonest, and prideful. If we ignore the many revelations God has shown us in the form of history, art, philosophy, and science, we deny a more fulfilling idea of God.

For Karen Armstrong, this book serves as a way for us to appraise the complexity of our ideas of God. Many conservative Christians are fearful of such a limitless idea of God. But, we have caved into their demands;we have given them the license to dictate how God should be viewed and worshiped. In our polarized world, we need to develop more admirable forms of religion that respect the mystery of God, acknowledge scientific and historical reality, and uphold compassion and humility as the best virtues. Many people are disillusioned with a religion that often vilifies people for being human beings that doubt, postulate, and imagine greater unseen realities. History of God has helped me to achieve a richer view of God that was denied to me at church where I was forced to repress doubts and make myself as vacuous as possible.

I highly recommend this book to any curious seekers that find their seeking abilities being limited by the barriers of institutional religion. As someone who has been unable to believe in God until leaving the church, this book was a necessary step in recognizing that the grandeur of God dwells in those doubtful thoughts that the church identifies as being blasphemous.

2011-08-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

"Hellmouth" Republic School District Maligns and Repeatedly Punishes Rape Victim:
(A Response to these two news articles-posted below)
Article 1:http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/17/297888/missouri-school-sued-for-allegedly-making-special-ed-student-write-apology-letter-to-her-rapist/

2. Details of Righteous Lawsuit, from parents of the victim:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/17/national/main20093533.shtml

In our supposed morally ambiguous world, we are constantly in doubt about the psychological makeup or the characteristic signs of evil. Evil always seems boisterous as it boasts about its unpunished evil act. For this school district, they are certainly not wearing somber faces but smug ones because they know that they knowingly endangered a rape victim with a mental handicap. They are well aware that they took no preventive steps to insure this girl's safety. Instead, they are acting legalistic to the point where they are publicly making their indifference known about the matter.

What is this maleficent school district showing this girl who lacks certain cognitive powers? They are showing that superior mental powers do not always translate to acute moral senses. Occasionally, it makes someone more malicious to the extent where they can endanger this girl's life without a shred of remorse. To me, these sorts of stories make it known to the world that sadly evil is existent and that it sometimes has no recognition of its self. Instead, this school continues to defend its insidious actions as though its reputation in the end is more important.

We are witnesses to this same sort of defense of institutional reputation within the Catholic Church which slowly, but surely is realizing the immorality of pretending that evil cannot penetrate its walls. (There are many moral champions inside and outside of the church who many are deeply grateful for!) In this frame of mind, from these institutions, the bearers of truth are vilified for standing up for justice in the face of an overwhelming amount of evil that vies for victory. In these cases, the small person like in many Charles Dickens stories are the ones who are honorable as they face opposition in the form of a depraved institutions.

Republic School District, for this matter, has surely shown themselves to be clearly depraved. Their decision to punish the victim of sexual abuse not once, but numerous times is indicative of their failure to protect the innocent. It's proof that sadly some people are still adherents of the corrupt "rule of silence," for any victims of rape. We thought that this truly malicious rule was restricted to the fifties but it still dwells in the minds of some people. Some people are so convinced by its legitimacy that they would ignorantly punish this girl to only safeguard the reputation of their school district of ill-repute.

Below, I have provided a link to the school district's home page. I ask all of you to consider writing a thoughtful email charged with incendiary words to describe your anger over this school district's horrific offense of human rights.
The Link to the School district located above the famed Hellmouth (Buffy allusion):
http://www.republicschools.org/
Superintendent Email Address:Vern.Minor@republicschools.org

2011-08-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Discussion about Danny Boyle's Frankenstein Play Part 1:

Frankenstein happens to be one of my favorite novels because it reflects our need for companionship and inclination towards arrogantly knowing everything about the cosmos with certainty. As with the Greek tragedy, Frankenstein shows the dangers of pride. Throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, we are shown the dangers of being prideful. Oftentimes, prideful figures face repercussions that display to them the grave moral dangers of pride.

Within our modern world, Frankenstein continues to remain highly relevant. Recently, Danny Boyle deftly directed a London theater adaptation that focused on the universal human theme of disorientation within the world. Fantastically, the play began with a highly symbolic scene where the recently conceived Frankenstein feels unbalanced upon birth. Above him, the stage has countless light bulbs that signifies the one elusive mystery of the force of light. Strangely, its visible through certain scientific processes that allows it to be viewed by other components within our eyes that allows that particular type of energy to be recognized by our brains. Without that ability, would we really see the light? If we didn't have consciousness, would we really perceive that light in the same way that we take for granted daily. We accept that light exists as it is. But, if we were daring enough, we could uncover the more complicated scientific nature of light.

Our life is framed by this mystery. That light brimming above the newly developed Frankenstein shows the equally elusive mystery of our existence. Like light, we are simply visible but questionably existent. What power beyond ourselves granted us this ability to perceive this existence yet have doubts about it? In us, why do we have cognitive powers that enable us to make things deceptively meaningful? Yet paradoxically, the predominant nihilistic view of things contradicts all meaning by making the universe an accidental, meaningless body of existence.

As Frankenstein begins to explore his existence, he happens upon the cottage where an old man along with his son and wife live. There, Frankenstein makes himself known only to the blind old man. Within these tales, blindness symbolically relates to open mindedness. Having the world's viewpoint, we see things limited and even superficially. Due to the old man's lack of this worldly obtuseness, he accepts Frankenstein initially because he is able to discern past Frankenstein's grotesqueness and realize that Frankenstein is both loving and inquisitive by nature. He hasn't been tainted by the evils of baser feelings yet like vindictiveness, greed, and superficiality. For now, Frankenstein inhabits a state of mind that perhaps the Jew scribes felt that Adam and Eve symbolically inhabited within the Garden of Eden Story.

Within the garden, they could have a thriving life where they were able to inquire and explore their world freely. They viewed the world beyond the surface-level descriptions we limit our worldview like race, religion, political ideology, gender, and sexual orientation. Within their world, there only lived the beauty of human existence and the inexorable world of God's creation. They haven't mired their world yet with greed, pride, or vengeance just yet. As Frankenstein finds himself betrayed by conceited humans, he'll find himself psychologically leaving the serenity of being loved and accepted for someone beyond the superficial level of existence. Aristotle depicts this as the deepest level of friendship that no longer cleaves to the base generalities of vacuous friendship. Instead, it realizes the opposite person as something of mystery. In Hamlet, there's a wonderful quote that refers to every person being a mystery in of themselves. Frankenstein was treated as a astonishing mystery by the older man therefore Frankenstein can reciprocate those views and experience the ecstasy of recognizing that we are being "known" fully rather than known partially through a stereotype.

2011-07-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Heavenly Hallucination
Inspired by Anne Rice's Memnoch the Devil

He sure was congenial-

That wily Devil

Who adorns himself with so many disguises

Yet, he tells me he can reveal the truths

Hidden beneath the metaphysical

Fabrics of heaven and Earth

Reluctantly, I complied-

But, the devil smiles sardonically

Maybe, it’s all just a lie

No, I’ll never achieve this again

Satan, I am complicit

If only to find validation

Of the deepest yearnings of my

Immortal soul

Upon entering heaven,

I was thrown to the ground

By the magnificent force

Of the rapturous singing

That only Angels create

In the nuances of the tune,

I heard my desire

Rendered into a beautiful symphony

About my intrinsic need for redemption and purpose

I pored over books in heaven which were

Endless, like the scope of heaven

Upon earth, I could never recount

The information

But, I can recall the

Profound elation that

Feels now like a vague sense

Of its true gravity

Suddenly Satan weaved his woeful tale

He had his questions about

The elusive methods of God

It was the reason for his downfall

The grandeur of heaven was too unreal

There had to be some ounce of imperfection

Underpinning the entire grand design

Of this heavenly oasis

Now, he was educating forsaken

Earthly souls and

Educating them to be penitent

In order to escape the infernal

Landscape of hell

He didn’t know if he was still allied with God

For God still appeared divinely angered

At the devil’s inquisitiveness

I’ve seen horrific imagery

Terrifying flashes of perdition

Edifying images of heaven

Yet, I could place my confidence in either of these places

I could only disbelieve

Because all that I’ve seen

Is far above the lowly

Cognitive powers of someone like me

In the end when I awoke,

I felt shaken to the core

Now, I could only fall deep

Into some catatonic state

Till I could rediscover my bearings

Within this Godless prison

2011-07-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

A State of Non-Being

One describes sleep ineffably

Before they succumb to the state of blankness,

The mind is abuzz with concerns of the living

Instances of life are replayed and regretted

Guilt inundates the mind

Till we nevertheless fall helplessly into our nihilistic refuge

Soon enough dreams fill the canvas of our minds,

Where are we?

Is this any different than the reality set before us?

Meaningless dreams are forgotten

While significant ones forge on through the empty planes of sleep

And persist after we wake and find ourselves breathing life

Wakefully, we recover from the pacifying darkness of our netherworld

We re-begin our mundane lives where we seek out knowledge

To provide ourselves meaning within the world from which we

Might not wake back up again

We must struggle valiantly to scope out artistic wonders and grandeur structures

All in attempt to forestall the inevitability of the perpetual sleep

Where we no longer are conscious of our wakeful selves

Before I fall asleep permanently,

I cling to the illusions of love which may soon be forgotten

In the abysmal darkness of a church

I pray earnestly to a God who is not there

To assuage the terror of my conscious soul

For the oblivion is upon me and

I refuse to slumber peacefully and lifelessly

Under the pretense of “living life to the fullest”

Upon the ornate cross above me

Jesus appears sorrowful as he frightfully screams to God

Before submitting to death:

“Why hast thou forsaken me?”

This same question fills my panicked brain

As the beat of my heart accelerates then fitfully slows

Till my death is brought to fruition

Unless there truly is a God

Hidden within the complex fabric

Of the accidentally-placed universe

Then cause, effect, and sleep

Are Rendered Untrue

Once the miracle of life

Becomes crucified by inexplicable death

2011-07-13T08:44:00.000-07:00

Till Death, Do Us Part!

One day, I unburied the corpse

Of my deceased lover who

Never reciprocated my feelings

He locked lips with another woman

When he still dwelled in that deplorable death sack

Now, he was nonexistent so his body was up for grabs

Thankfully, he wouldn’t find my rambling disquieting

He had to listen for eternity

While, I jabbered incessantly with

That damnable lisp that he always detested

For once, I felt settled with him, not harried

Normally, I felt unfit around him

Usually, there was a pregnant pause

In the midst of our dialogue

And a husky, exasperated sigh

That signaled his disgust with me

Then he proclaimed that “I was infuriating and inane”

After issuing those venomous words, he walked away and

Left me to Rot

If he was dead, like now,

He would be quaint though dank

At least, he would not interrupt my nervous

Stream of thoughts with his inconsiderate words

Now he could restfully sit motionless

On my grandmother’s antique rocker

And grant me his seductive death stare

As I liberally talked

Or expounded about extenuating financial circumstances

Occasionally, I was bemused by his lifelessness

So I crept over and kissed him lightly

On his rotting lips

They were chapped and cold

But, the kiss still satisfied but

His vile words would not intervene

On this deathly romantic occasion

Sometimes, I would read excerpts from “Jane Eyre,”

Then I would comment that Jane could have

Rectified Mr. Rochester’s brooding

By waiting till he jumped from the highest floor

Of Thornfield manor like that loony wife

Whom he frustratingly pined after

Maybe, the women of Jane Austen novels

Could have prolonged the stiff countenance

Of their love interest’s faces

Surely, the reader could have availed themselves of the agony

Of reading rosy passages about animated Women

Adoring men that

Seemed partly dead anyways

Tess of the D’Urbervilles should have

Sought revenge on those abhorrent men

Who were indifferent to her abuse?

Much like Aphrodite who didn’t care

About Medusa’s plight and punished her

Only because some sea gods

Cannot keep their tridents under restraint

No, dead men were the greatest

You didn’t have to probe their minds

For any semblance of feelings they had for you

They weren’t boisterous, drunken, and restive.

Instead, they were infinitely silent

Which I am eternally grateful for

On our anniversary, I took my desiccated beloved

To the gravestone that symbolized the end of

His brooding and woeful masculine selfishness

Now, we could memorialize our deadly wedding

Beside the monument of his

Former disinterest in me

Limbs might crack but

He’ll still be delightfully intact

And boy, will I be loquacious?

For the rest of his nonexistence,

He’ll have to listen to me talk

Until I face my own demise

“Till death, do us part!”

2011-07-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

Review of Shadow's Lure by: Jon Sprunk

Surely, sequels are a tedious task for writers because they have to improve upon the last installment of a particular series.First novels are inherently difficult like any writing project but you do not have knowledge yet of the expectations that savvy readers have created. Many times, the writer has to focus intently upon the natural course that all the characters are obligated to follow in the case of sequel. Shadow's Son therefore was the formative stages of a very expansive story. Interestingly, the word "son" in the title connotes a introductory stage of the novel. Therefore, in the first novel, we were offered a fast-paced, concise story set within one environment amongst an even larger world. In "Shadow's Lure," Jon Sprunk expands the scope of the story to involve other kingdoms and a whole range of new characters who inhabit these new terrains.

Following the Star Wars template, the second novel also delves closer into the mystery of Caim's being or origins. Within Empire Strikes Back, we learned more in-depth information about Luke's endowment of being able to hone the force. In this story, Caim explores his shadow powers which greatly enhanced his ability to overcome greater challenges within his past. Now, he is having doubts about this intrinsic connection to the shadow. Is this shadow ultimately a benevolent or malicious force? How much free will can he afford with this power that appears to have greater control than him? All the characters similarly face this same conflict between their autonomy and the restraining power of authoritative forces among them.

In the first novel, Josey appears straight-laced and she often remains complicit with her superiors. Caim's autonomy, in a sense, liberates her from the restraints of her insular life and challenges her to assert herself more. Within "Shadow's Lure," Josey willfully enters a role where a city is dependent upon her aptitude to rule justly. In the beginning, she experiences doubts about her ability to rule deftly. She even begins to examine the power that others have upon her. Much like Caim and other characters within this particular novel, Josey must undergo the struggle of remaining true to herself among the many contrasting expectations or roles the others thrust upon her. Ironically, Caim and Josey must face this same daunting challenge of seeking out their autonomy within a world that seems where they feel enmeshed with a superior force who dictates the type of person they are.

Skillfully, Jon Sprunk delves into the complexity of each character while writing vivid, exciting action sequences. Oftentimes, characters become muddled by the bombastic nature of action sequences. Any author, especially fantasy writers, have to maintain their character's personalities within the midst of chaotic action. Jon Sprunk's enviable skill with action scenes extends to other areas of his writing. He can summarily describe things which are considered exposition and yet still maintain the high-octane action of a particular scene. Also, his female characters are not superficial damsels in distresses or undeveloped "sheroes." Instead, they're fully-realized characters who face some of the same demoralizing trials that any of the male characters would face. Jon Sprunk admirably does not shape them into politically-correct female characters who are strong by default without any authentic challenges. When I thought about Josey's evolution as a character, I was profoundly impressed by the care that Jon Sprunk took into slowly developing her into a different person than she was within the first novel.

Sometimes, there was moments where the story was temporarily uninteresting. Meaning, there were peaks of actions but the action sometimes settled into scenes that were slow. But, these scenes were pivotal because the exposition offered within these scenes contributed to the story. Many times, fantasy books become burdensome because the exposition is extraneous. It does nothing but make a novel desultory. Therefore, the reader feels that reading the novel is ultimately unsatisfying. Luckily, these novels offer readers a cathartic release because Jon Sprunk focuses on the characters and allow the fantasy world to slowly be developed at the same pace as the characters.

Overall, Shadow's Lure was a fantastic sequel to the first novel that was truly one of the biggest surprises of last year. I have become very disillusioned with fantasy novels because they're often too convoluted and the characters appear to be empty husks. Shadow's Lure is filled with "mindful" action rather than mindless action. While it is filled to brim with action sequences, it is also filled with characters who are dynamic. The action itself often achieves a vividness that is rare within novels. Oftentimes, I am overstimulated by the action that takes place within fantasy novels because the breadth of the novel cannot sustain itself in the heat of the action. Instead, the action sequences naturally progress from the scenes that are heavy with dialogue. By the end, I greatly admired the characters and was left with an insatiable need to read the next installment. Only well-constructed series can achieve that type of addictive psychological reaction. Hopefully, next summer means another novel being written within either this world or some other.

Thanks Pyr for providing a complimentary copy of this book!!! The fantastic cover art and quality of some your novels never fails to impress me!

If you're interested in finding more information about the author, Jon Sprunk, check out the below links:
Jon Sprunk's blog
Jon Sprunk's website

2011-06-18T19:28:00.001-07:00

Review of Madeleine L'Engle's Camillia

Madeleine L'Engle has never been one to mince her words or define her relationship with God in superficial terms. CS Lewis often had a didactic tone when speaking of spiritual matters whereas Madeleine L'Engle beautifully weaves prose that is simplistically deep. Despite her skills, she has been overlooked within the Christian world mostly because she probes her faith and makes some very reasonable,but controversial inquisitions about her faith overall.

Camilla, one of her earliest novels, is designed as a classical romance that is very philosophical in its nature. Anyone who has ever felt excessively quirky within the world will relate with Camilla and her realistic problems. She is the daughter of two parents within a deeply unhappy marriage. This discord causes Camilla to have very sharp doubts about romance as a whole. Nearly all teens feel uncomfortable with the chaotic pace of romance and the unrestrained quality to passion. Camilla's experience is further complicated by the unpleasant reality of her parent's marriage.

Many Christians novels feature these unhappy marriages as some unfavorable image of marriage that is antithetical to the entire vision of a blissful marriage. It is meant to perfectly match St. Paul's rendering of the thriving two-fold relationship between the church and Christ. Yet, Madeleine L'Engle realistically documents the inherent complication which all seemingly happy marriages face internally. Camilla realizes this and is excessively anxious about her own romantic prospects.

The portion of the novel that is dedicated to the depth and philosophical nature of her first love showcases the robustness of emotive love. Oftentimes, we are confronted with images of transitory sexual love that mostly skims the surface of a deeply developed love that is constructed on the base of delving into another person's heart and learning to love the dichotomy between their faults and strengths. In many ways, Madeleine L'Engle accurately shows the fundamental quality of love that does not need to translate to anything nuptial. True love can persist in the art of rhetoric or the efforts humans make to penetrate the surface level of others and learn to marvel every person's interior mystery that reflects the enigma of God.

By the end of the novel, we are left with a story that transcends the shallow layer of many romantic tales and offered a story that is far more than a romance novel alone. In many ways, Madeleine L'Engle ended up writing a poignant tale that reflect Aristotle's formula of love that is intrinsically spiritual and not vacuous. It presents love that mirrors our own relationship with the intangible essence of the divine that has inspired many prophets and artists for ages. (She evocatively writes of this relationship with the divine and the artist within her wonderful novel "Walking on Water: On Faith and Art.") By plumbing the mystery of another human and learning to appreciate their mystery, we are learning to love God in the same manner. Our love with God is forged when we accept his enigmatic qualities and embrace that search for him that refines our self throughout our lives.

2011-06-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Spiral Staircase:My Climb Out of Darkness

In the spirit of the transcendentalists, Karen Armstrong embraces a liberated method of seeing God after being cooped up in the prison of subservience that has restricted her ability to be both authentic and inquisitive. The title is borrowed from the meaning behind T.S. Elliot's famous poem "Ash Wednesday," which visually describes the daunting task of finding one's spiritual dimension after being forced through the torturous and disillusioning task of accepting other people's ideas of the divine. Karen Armstrong's other book seems to be written in the style of T.S. Elliot's "The Waste Land," because both of them feel spiritually bankrupt within their separate bleak spheres of existing passively within the constraining systems of humanity that seems to have no clear idea of the shape or identity of the transcendent. Yet, it fashions systems that feign dangerous certitude about ideas that are far beyond our scope of understanding. Within T.S. Elliot's "The Waste Land," this had led to incessant chaos on the part of human arrogance while within Karen Armstrong's world this has led to feeling debased.

In the world of the monastery, Karen Armstrong felt she had to be resigned and distant from her spiritual identity. She was educated in the ideal of strictly preening herself to be acceptable in the eyes of her superiors. Prayer had to be a repetition of prayers that were dictated and bereft of any individual alteration. Therefore in the fabric of prayer, Karen Armstrong felt disinterested because in her cloistered life, she was lost to herself and consequently distant from God.

One of the Jewish stories about Jonah shows the danger of being certain about God's enigmatic ways. Jonah actually is argumentative with God and defies him. He refuses to see God from an intellectually humble perspective and metaphorically becomes trapped with his own ignorance or the woeful darkness of losing grasp of one's self which provides a person with their only connection with the divine. The cavernous feeling of Jonah's cave is similar to the darkness of Plato's cave where Jonah never contemplates God beyond the limited scope of his strict understanding. Within Plato's Cave, people encamped in the darkness of the cave face experience cessation in thinking of the wider world around them or the big existentialist questions. In life, they blindly follow in tandem with the superficial, unenlightened knowledge of the other occupants of the cave around them. C.S. Lewis's Silver Chair borrows this same platonic understanding of the prison that is darkened by the hopelessness of superficial understanding. When we confine our understanding of the divine as something that just offers us complacency with ourselves, we are not truly realizing the immensity of God's true mysterious self. We're caved in by the pride of assuming that we know all there is about God without an existence that necessitates doubt and questioning to better understand ourselves and the unique experiences of others.

Karen Armstrong learns to appreciate God by accepting first her self then learns to truly marvel the interior mystery of others. There is no inertia when it comes to understanding the transcendent reality. When we are blindly complicit with another person's understanding of the divine, we force ourselves into spiritual stasis where never learn to undertake the true challenges of understanding the enigma that is God within this material reality.

As a whole, Spiral Staircase never stoops to being pedantic when discussing the depth of her spiritual journey. Similar to her books about religious history, the books are written with a sense of curiosity and wonder that never infects the tone with something that resembles being artlessly sure of the divine that we are meant to spend our entire lives knowing or understanding. This book is not meant as something exclusive for any one religion. Books like this pertain to all of us because Karen Armstrong adeptly understands that the search for the reason behind our existence is never confined to one religion or philosophy.

2011-06-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Announcement: Blog Schism

Due to acquiring needed advice about the layout of the blogs, I feel that its time for the blogs to undergo a schism of sorts. This blog feels like it has greatly deviated from the main course of providing book reviews. Anyone looking at this blog can easily lose their footing when it comes with trying to decide the direction of my posts here.

Henceforth, all blog post related to philosophy, religion, and mythology will be centralized on my new blog which is called Agnostic Inner Sanctum . If you enjoyed the posts that mainly dealt with these topics, you'll find them here from now on. For the first few weeks, I'll be including links to each individual post as to provide ample time for people to access this page and join it if interested.

A Bibliophile's Reverie will remain now as mainly a book review blog which will help those rediscover the missed book reviews that have become a nonentity as of recent. I'm doing this for my sake and others because I believe this blog feels poorly organized. Hopefully, this change will help rectify the clutter problems.

2011-06-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Labyrinths and Ladders Part 1:The Labyrinth of Alice in Wonderland

Within mythology, the labyrinth is a common feature. Normally, the labyrinth relates to some sort of painstaking inner struggle. It is often perilous and overwhelming because labyrinths commonly are things which cause apprehension like our own minds. When we initially step within the first area of the labyrinth, we are contemplating whether or not we want to undergo the arduous task of reaching the goal of enlightenment towards the middle. Before that, we have to face the formidable foes that are our repressed parts of ourselves which may make us disbelieve in our overall quest of seeking out o true self within the labyrinth that is mostly constructed of the doubts that mislead us into believing fallacious things about ourselves. To that extent, we begin to feel abashed for certain elements of ourselves and start to lack the motivation to make the dangerous trek to the middle of the labyrinth.

Alice in Wonderland features a labyrinth at the end of the story after Alice braves the journey through her unorthodox thoughts. As a whole, Alice in Wonderland literally details the journey of a suppressed girl within the times where women and men alike were required to live a mental ascetic life. The freedom of the brain was meant as something that creates intervention in fully living within the constraints of the real-world ideal of the protestant work ethic. Paul's ideas of perfect belief being the most essential part of the Christian life was taken to the point of extremism by enforcing certain restrictions to a mind where doubt can easily lead one astray from the perfection of the false self.

Alice falls asleep and submits freely to her imagination where she journeys through the madness of wonderland in search of her lost self. The whole tale works like the maze at the end of the tale. Through it, she is greeted with people who have different ideals for her self. In life, we are accustomed to being chastised by people who are indifferent about your needs and care selfishly instead about how they think people should live like them. Karen Armstrong defines this as toxic egotism that has been allowed to flourish within the current structure of Christianity that dates from the medieval times but was worsened during the age of rationalism. To counteract the threat of secularism, Christianity began to use exaggerated conceit to protect the mind from allowing these new discoveries to ruin their traditional faith. With this process, Christianity has degraded to a religion of feigned belief and selfishness. It has enshrined the Victorian ideal of having adulation for the morally perfect self above all else. Basically, it helped to politically maintain a hierarchy that needed to be preserved in order for the economic system of that world to work. At this point, it unwise to think of Christianity as being a religion under "God," but a religion where God even had to offer fealty to the king and queen. Essentially, it was the very thing Machiavelli had foresaw.

In the end, Alice is pursued by Lewis Carrol's caricatures of the monarchy because she fails to accede to their rule. She is seen as being an obstinate intrusion to their complacency with their place in their hierarchy. Lewis Carrol further lambasts the monarchy for being obstinate from Alice's perspective. They fail to offer her any chance unless she increases her size and ego. They'll only listen if Alice's thoughts parallel their own egotistical thoughts. Otherwise, they are completely indifferent about her intellectual autonomy and want to literally sever her head from her graceful body for being insubordinate.

This labyrinth eventually becomes the area where Alice can finally accept her inquisitiveness. Throughout, the Cheshire cat appears and dematerializes to represent the way our imagination eludes us. It does this because Alice is not accepting of her intelligence. Part of her feels that a greater piece of living lies with mindlessly being complicit with the demands of her superiors. By the end, she finds that it matters not because the monarchy or society as a whole abhors her either way. So, in the end, the possible way to even find some semblance of happiness is to bravely get through the labyrinth within her mind and feel edified by the acceptance of her individual gifts. Alice's shrewdness in particular helps her to successfully outsmart her superiors.

Fascinatingly, Hrotswithe, a medieval writer, rehabilitates her disconsolate female characters in much the same way by helping them to rediscover their mystic connection with God. In psychological terms, this relates to embracing and utilizing our mental gifts for benevolence. Her crafty female characters find that they are endowed with mystical deductive powers that help them to stealthily outsmart the male forces in their lives that have cruelly tried to suppress their abilities to live a pious life. In the end, their shrewdness aids them with reversing their restrictive lives. In a sense, though there is no physical labyrinth within Hrotswithe's tale, the women characters still must see past the restrictions of human constructs and fully realize their spiritual gifts instead.

As the Eastern Orthodox describes it, the sanctity of God lies with respecting the internal mystery of ourselves and allowing us to naturally find God through that search. Many times, superficial Christianity becomes the boundaries to finding God in the first place because that Christianity distrusts the true nature and enigma of God. The pernicious forces of Biblical Literalism or fundamental Christianity are in a sense labyrinths that prove to be obstructions to our natural spiritual development. We cannot cleave to their ideas of God unless we wish to become masochistic and depraved.

Next Time, I'll be analyzing the labyrinth of Pan's Labyrinth.

2011-06-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

Analysis of Kamelot's Karma Part 1/4

In our modern dialogue, the mythic force of karma relates to the array of consequences that are naturally produced from our individual decisions. We love to denote certain decisions as issuing good or bad karma. Many times, we use karma as a way of describing fate's natural counteraction to the type of karma unleashed. Good Karma is accompanied with good karma that will help us to yield good fortune while bad karma in effect brings bad fortune. In Star Wars, the "force" replaces the word "karma "and acts very similarly in that universe. Anakin's turbulent emotional state causes him to react with fear that withers down to anger. By the end, an overbearing amount of bad force accumulates within his spirit and causes Anakin to fully respond to the whatever scenario is before him with corrupt reasoning which causes him to make that climatic decision that finally causes him to surrender to the bad side. He essentially is imbued with bad karma that progressively causes his downfall. By the end, Anakin can only return to the light side by deciding to sacrifice his entire life to spare another. Thus, he can finally purge his spirit of the essence of the dark side and can once again be reacquainted with the essence of the light side.

How does this relate to Kamelot's album: Karma? "Regalis Apertura," the first instrumental track of the album does not even match the former paragraph's explanation of karma. First off, first tracks can be rather misleading as they establish the mood. Kamelot's first track on the album is deceptively regal. Many listeners might even envisage a group of courtly men conversing over the affairs of a kingdom within a sumptuously decorated room. Or, we could even see within our minds: a drawbridge dropping down from the front section of the castle. The implication of the dropping drawbridge is that any guests that are waiting to enter are freely welcomed. Anyways, Kamelot might have just chose this epic track that is common within most symphonic album since it invokes a bombastic feeling that practically defines the symphonic metal genre.

Yet, the next song,"Forever," delves deeply into the mind of some unidentifiable figure. We can fathom that its probably a man since romantic songs within Kamelot's discography is always sung by a man who was once smitten with a departed female lover. In the first verse alone, every line depicts the different types of emptiness and bareness that this character finds in their soul without the edifying light of their female lover. If we think in terms of philosophical themes, the famous medieval work Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius features a disillusioned mortal who feels trapped within the dark state of their minds. A certain "Lady of Philosophy," helps this weary mortal recapture his sense of significance by relying on the soothing light of philosophy and reason. Perhaps, the meaning that this song evokes is the inevitable corrosion of this man's soul without the consolation that his female lover once offered. She conveys his life and forgave him for what he has done. Within Boethius's work, Lady Philosophy explains the purpose of the life of the mortal man and forgives him of his transgressions because he did not have the ability to discern the most ethical decision due to the darkness of his soul.

Strangely, we are shown the extent of this disillusionment with the world within "Wings of Despair." In the Biblical story of Noah's Ark, the dove becomes the symbol of hope that leads Noah out of the darkness of the Ark or soul. Within this song, the wearied heart of this mortal man does not need to be suppressed by the hopelessness of his despair. Similar to Noah, he can climb out of the abyss of his soul and be resurrected by the acceptance of his past sins and the hope that the lessons he learned from his exile from life will cause him to be more selfless. Importantly, the Noah's Ark story tells of a man who prides himself on being the elect person of God. When in actuality, his negligence of the worthiness of other humans haunts him and makes him live an insular life where there is no joy. Similarly, the man within "Wings of Despair," clings to hope that the darkness that makes his soul tremble will come to pass. One day, it might even cause him to transcend and live a more virtuous life after throughly becoming tired of the his former selfishness.

Next post, I'll be discussing The Spell, Karma, and The Light I shine on You.

2011-06-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

Memnoch the Devil Discussion Part 2: The Splendor of Heaven, Lestat's journey to Dante's Paradiso

Originally, my vision of heaven was innocently divine and was very vacuous. When I was younger, the only earthly sense to describe heaven with was perfect gratification. Essentially, I thought heaven contained infinite amounts of all the pleasurable things known to me at this point. I was not mature enough to conceptualize a heaven that perhaps could be dull or filled with questionable paradoxes. Heaven to me was simply the inevitable hereafter that we are privileged to dwell in for holding steadfast to faith in the existence of God.

As I aged, I thought I had to repetitiously beseech God for salvation. My gratification came then only in the form of allaying my doubts with trust that God has somehow remembered that I continue to exist on the Earth that I was led to believe he no longer paid any attention to. This highly negligent God becomes a very prominent character when Memnoch offers his account of being exiled from heaven temporarily and making a case for the inherent worth of humanity.

Regarding the evolution of my beliefs, I really do think that Lestat cleaved to these beliefs until he faced the glaring reality that he was not allowed to be a priest. Similar to Anne Rice herself, Lestat felt forced into questioning his faith and altogether forfeiting it because he finally realized a hole in the logic of his religious beliefs. My own personal loss of faith was brought about by repressed doubts that were eventually shaped into one unified argument against the veracity of Christianity. As with the first post, Lestat's understanding of the world, as with my immature vision of heaven, was a world that was dependent upon pleasure and sensuality to distract us from the disillusioning knowledge that the world is absent of any meaning. Our pleasure and ambitions are the only things that we can derive some semblance of meaning.

Before being ushered to heaven with his wonderful consort Memnoch, Lestat converses with Armand and the others who think Lestat's proposed journey is predictably insane. Armand notably mentions that Satan is a seductive figure who might deceive Lestat into believing an erroneous concept of God and heaven. Strangely, this is the same Armand who answered Louis' desperate questions about God by curtly saying that there was neither a God nor Satan in existence. When cautioning Lestat about his forthcoming plans, he mentions the medieval archetype of Satan as the adversarial figure that opposes God's majesty. Within the medieval times, he essentially represented human feelings that were either unresolved or pitted against any penitent feelings.

When Lestat finally returns to Memnoch, Lestat is taken aback by Memnoch's human precense. Lestat vaguely remembers being haunted by Armand's haunting portrayal of Lucifer. Memnoch not only has a different shape and nature than Armand's concept of Satan. He also adopts a different name which serves as Anne Rice's method of undoing our preconceived notions of Satan and allow us to invite his explanation of heaven and hell that no mortal has ever encountered before death.

Anne Rice's depiction of heaven is written with marvelous approximation. Her language has wrongly been described as being overwrought in passages such as these. I've never been able to understand that perspective since no author I've encountered has ever been able to bring the feeling of naturalness that Anne Rice brings with her deftly written prose. Her heaven scene imbues the reader with a sense of overwhelming beauty. From Lestat's perspective, some lucidity is brought in to stabilize a scene that could easily become unbalanced by the sheer density of the description.

In CS Lewis' "The Last Battle," he relied on meager details for his heaven sequence to respectfully allow for it to fit with the metaphorical nature of the story. Anne Rice's style is much more bombastic and Lestat is certainly someone who is arrogant and fond of artistry. Within her heaven sequence, the ethereal beauty of "Cry to Heaven's" musical descriptions reappear within the scene almost as a homage to that wonderful book. In this novel, it serves as Anne Rice's memory of music recalling her thoughts of God. Lestat remembers his days as a vagrant with Nicholas when they travel to Paris to play violin. Therefore, Lestat's heaven vision would be focused upon the musical element of heave. Or at least when writing "Memnoch the Devil," Lestat would probably retain pronounced memories of the ineffable beauty of heaven's music. There is definitely no superior way of describing heaven's indescribable nature than to use the enigmatic force of music. Remember, Anne Rice used music "Cry to Heaven" to express the depth of pain that some of the characters faced within that book.

Towards the end of Lestat's experience with heaven, he peruses some books filled to the brim with answers to all the questions he's ever formulated about Earth and the nature of "being." Except, he cannot remember distinctly any of the answers because only the complexity of music can be remembered while prodigious knowledge cannot be stored by our limited minds. After leaving heaven, Lestat feels unsatisfied afterwards and this aids in helping him to better understand the restiveness of the souls in Sheol. The next post will explore the complications of believing in God when the metaphysical world is too vast and unreal for us to instill true belief in it. Therefore, is it really possible for any of us to even have a "belief" in God when the word implies having knowledge in the definite existence of that being.

2011-06-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Wall Street Journal's Meghan Gurdon is Trapped in Plato's Cave (A Response to her recent "Darkness Too Visible," article)

Before reading my post, please read this article!

Yesterday, Meghan Cox Gurdon wrote an extremely divisive article that detailed her problems with the growing darkness of recent young adult novels. Similar to television, censorship is being liberalized and becoming more mature and reflective of a world that seems to supersede our understanding.

Once upon a time, Plato described the journey towards illumination as a daunting journey through a darkened cave. People trapped within the darkness of the cave often become complacent with the darkness or superficial knowledge. Others weigh in on the causes of the predominant darkness and begin to wisely extrapolate about the source and reason for the existence within the oppressive darkness.

Meghan Gurdon certainly proves that her analysis of the current trend of young adult books is woefully trapped within the darkness of Plato's cave. Her article does not seek to understand the reasons for the darkness. Certainly, young adult readers who are left disillusioned and unsatisfied by their shallow teen lives internally seek this understanding. At this age, they are alienated from adults who have repressed their experience in Plato's cave or have become encamped at some unreachable point in the cave.

Either way, the teen begins perusing novels written by adults who vividly remember their experiences and have created a repository of memories that pertain to their gradual journey towards the indistinguishable light outside of the cave of complacency or ignorance. Like any work of art, the most adept writer can encapsulate the teen experience and write it in a way that compels readers because the reader can identify their respective journey with the character in a particular story.

This identification with the plights of a character helps shape the powerful emotion of empathy. By forbidding kids to read these so-called subversive young adult books, we are limiting the ability for teenagers to become more empathetic. Some current forms of religion do not help flesh out these empathetic powers because they deny the genuine sorrow and pain that accompanies the human experience. They definitely educate people on mindlessly ascribing to certain belief structures out of social pressure. Good forms of religion endow individuals with the ability to cherish themselves. As illustrated by the Buddha, nirvana is nothing more than the state where we can begin to accept ourselves and be open about our suffering. With that, we can learn to mindful of the suffering of people and learn to be both patient and compassionate to others.

Tragically, Meghan Gurdon misconstrues the true purpose that young adult fiction has for teens. Books like "Hunger Games," metaphorically showcase the terror of war and violence. From a teen's perspective, it shows the confusion that settles in when we learn of the justified immorality of humanity. In Hunger Games, the vice of the capital is avariciousness and complacency. They reflect a superficial society that is greatly unsatisfied with themselves so they feel that their unresolved pain should be experienced by others who are undeserving of it.

By blindly condemning the content of young-adult books, we are denying teens the ability to grapple healthfully with their issues. If more teens read books about realistic issues, there would then be less problems with them. Meghan Gurdon writes the article as though she was exempt from the darkness of teen life. Her criticism of the genre is misplaced. She is merely critiquing the messengers of society who would overwhelmingly agree with her sadness over the omnipresent darkness of the world. But, she nevertheless foregos trying to understand the underlying reasons for the darkness of children's novels. Certainly, if she existed in the world of "Buffy:the Vampire Slayer," she would be completely ignorant of the monstrous hell hole that lives beneath the musty halls of Sunnydale High School.

In the end, this unwise article from the Wall Street Journal shows that many are comfortably nestled in Plato's cave. Teens readers though are pining after the illumining lights of understanding and no longer want to remain trapped in their ego's. Thankfully, teen writers are a brave bunch and are providing our teens today with stories that are reflective of the difficulty of being a teenager. By remembering their experiences, they are providing teens with a way to embrace their demons and seek a way to heal themselves from the torture of being a teen who is conflicted over their identity. Many times, this conflict arises because some adults show that they completely misunderstand the experience of being a teen. By forgetting their struggles and condemning the teen struggle because they've forgotten about the pain of teenage inferno, they are helping their cause in creating conceited adults that are insensitive.

Do we forget that the youth of the ancient world actively partook in this violence? Our stories are memories of their horror which educate us about rectifying their wrongs. When we deny ourselves the opportunity to learn from the past, we are granting permission for humanity to be static in terms of ethical evolution. Instead of condescendingly mocking the struggle of today's teen, we should read these stories and refresh our memories of the teen experience instead of castigating kids who are only seeking help. In this world, we often love to be persnickety or pretend to be godlike in our personal sainthood. But our ignorance of reality and neglect of the bereaved only exacerbates the corruption of our world. So please, Meghan Cox Gurdon, I implore you to read one of those books with an open heart and mind. Please stop embarrassing yourself and the Wall Street Journal with your lack of understanding of the implications and the importance of truthful art!

2011-05-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Game of Thrones Review

Glancing at this book, you cannot help but summon certain expectations about this book. This book has to be "Grade A" masculine ware. There's no doubt that this book will have burly men with husky voices and an extreme lack of good moral conduct. Everything will feel as unruly as the characters within the book. They probably foolishly pilot themselves towards all things that would make them even more slovenly then we expect them to be. Also, there will be a marked absence of any depth or poetry when it comes to the character development. The main aim of the author is to compose a book that caters to bloodthirsty readers who want nothing but gratuitous violence without any real thematic intent behind it.

Antithetically, this book is not your exposition stuffed fantasy book nor is it your violent pornographic books that is geared for testosterone junkies. Initially, I was a bit peeved and wrongly put-off by the presence of exposition towards the beginning of the story. But the beginning of the book is a bewildering mess of subplots, enigmatic characters, and political intrigue. Sensory overload is the by-product of feeling imposed by the cramming of information within this very complex world. At first, it may seem the convoluted structure of the novel is sloppy and lacks any sort of grace.

But, if you patiently dare to plunge into the messiness of the beginning. You're guaranteed to be compensated with a very deep, deftly-written book that is a testament to George R.R. Martin's skills as a writer. Anytime I ponder the finesse that George R.R. Martin has with being able to maintain the innumerable plot lines he has worked into the architecture of his story: I cannot help but be both overwhelmed and stunned by the success he has with keeping these intertwined subplots stable. Normally, many fantasy writers find themselves constructing their own downfall by bringing their story to the brink of disaster. They become so petrified by their own unwieldy, pretentious tower of a story that it starts to crumble before the reader's eye. Most readers gather the sense of a story that is facing impending doom when they find themselves becoming deeply uninterested in the jumbled words within a fantasy story. Ordinarily, its some unfamiliar anecdote that has no importance to the story. It works only to delude readers into thinking the story is complex when in reality its long-winded and shallow.

George R.R. Martin is the fantasy genre's reincarnation of Leo Tolstoy because both of them can adeptly write stories with large scopes and keep the reader engrossed. Certainly, with "War in Peace," and "Game of Thrones," I found myself quickly forgetting a particular character's name. Luckily, I only had to really pay close attention to the titular characters because some of the side ones had some really bizarre names that I was not going to press my brain into remembering. Therefore, aside from the adulation I have for this book's brilliance, this book is definitely a punishment for anyone, like me, who suffers from "character name amnesia." Again, when I write, I stick to simplistic names so I can remember my own characters.

Moreover, I'm quite taken with the well-constructed female characters. Arya happens to be an aspiring warrior that wishes to break out of the mold of the subservient marriage pawn. Sansa is Arya's foil in a sense since she embodies the woman that this story's feudal world demands. While Cersei is the tragic character who is the epitome of the failure of the neurosis that this society appears to have towards female. Cath, on the other hand, represents someone who chooses to wield her assertiveness and brashness within the confines of her preordained role as a female. Danerys uses her open mind to embrace the seemingly barbaric culture that she is forced to be wedded to. Simliar to Cath, she accepts her status in an external sense. Internally, she stores up her strength to covertly work to shape and manipulate her outer world to her liking. There is so much more stuff I would love to explore about the interplay between the male and female characters and how they are imperative to building a world that mirrors the historical and psychological progress of our world. Remember that the inspiration for the story comes from the true history of the War of the Roses?

Anyways, I highly recommend it universally to all readers. After reading this, I plan to watch the HBO series and delay reading the others until I finish some mandatory books that need to be read and reviewed. Then, I shall carve out some precious time to finish these masterpieces.

2011-05-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

Humpty Dumpty

I’m disgusted by your noncommittal reaction

Furthermore, I’m ravaged by perverse passion

For you filthy ingrate

I need to purge myself of this toxic love

That derides my own ability to be happy

Taking up the sword and honor of my kingdom

I lay siege to all former feelings of you

Every-time, I am tempted to recollect about your rotten face

I’ll let the maddened rage overtake

Then, I'll wait for my thirst for death to be sated

If I were Rapunzel

Waiting for you to dote on me

I would sever the hair that temporarily bonded us

And then watch your body clatter upon the cold stone below

Where everything sweetly cracks and
Your innards are deliciously emptied

Like that of Humpty Dumpty

I’ll savor my victory

For I can happily take the oath of chastity

To safeguard myself and my sanity

From your alluring presence

That maliciously lures and enraptures me

The devil inside of you persists in wanting to

Devour my individuality whole

Deep inside your imagined embrace, I knew nothing but emptiness

I held nothing but enmity for you

While I envisioned your sweet kiss,

I felt deeply defiled

Now I want nothing else but for you to be dead

Again, I re-imagined that scene of your fateful plummet

Genuine satisfaction bloomed when you finally felt my void

Upon falling into the deep shadows of my death

Now you’ll only exist within those indiscernible shadows

While, I happily rule my kingdom without feeling threatened

By your pernicious love

2011-05-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

BOOK EXPO AMERICA MADVENTURE

(Picture with the Mastermind himself: Chuck Palahniuk, writer of Fight Club)

Inexplicably, my whole morning began uncommonly serene. As a cool and collected pedestrian, I walked to the bus stop where the Bolt Bus was prepared to take my anxiety-ridden corpse to Bibliophile heaven. In my dreams, I envisaged a resplendent light around the Javits Center where heavenly treasures were stored all for my picking. Venerable heroes filled those halls. They were the writers who have earned their reputation as published writers. Now, the aspiring writers, eccentric librarians, and all the residents of book world must fill the Javits Center and become brutal when getting copies of their newest works.

Luckily, Lexi allowed me to pass in the front of the line with her army of spunky book warriors. They were all equipped with their reusable grocery bags and book bags with extra padding. All of us were prepared to brave the swarm of caffeinated Book Expo America attendees who were teeming with excitement to procure ARCs.

Once 9:00 am came, I rushed into the main convention area and madly grabbed ARCs of any interesting books at an unprecedented rate of time. Before I knew it, my back was already cramping due to the stress put on it with all the books which were being carried on my back. For the remainder of the time, I met many authors and received complimentary signed copies of their. Among them, I met Rob Bell and received his provocative book about hell. Earlier in the year, this book was met with ire from orthodox believers.

Other than that, I randomly encountered Christopher Paolini, author of Eragon, and convinced him persuasively to read George R.R. Martin's epic Song of Ice and Fire series. Besides that, the highlight of my day came when meeting Chuck Palanhuik, author Fight Club, who was convincingly zany. Then again, he is the writer of "Guts," which was sickeningly delightful and sadistically humorous. This was a smaller story set in an even crazier ingenious book called "Haunted" which truly was an unorthodox novel. Strangely, my library once had this very adult book shelved inappropriately in the Juvenile section. Without divulging any of the gruesome details, I insinuated that the book was definitely for mature readers only. Therefore, the librarian at my local librarian finally realized that perhaps the book should be shelved somewhere with the apt name "Adults," or people who might be better prepared for the awe-inspiring madness within the book.

Anyways, Chuck Palahniuk and I definitely exchanged some very interesting words. When I meet writers that greatly inspire me, I tend to senselessly ramble. Of all the things I could have said, I described how his short story "Guts," made my childhood fear of bath tub and pool drains more pronounced. Luckily, I reassured him that the fear was safely contained in my subconscious. But, I also have this strange paranoia about spontaneous desires. If I have a certain need to assuage those spontaneously created desires, the pool drain most definitely would become a very dangerous weapon. If you've read the story, you know the procedure to which the pool drain would become highly dangerous. I take no responsibility for any of my readers who feel I should be held responsible if someone responsibly emulates the dangerous act described in gratuitous terms within "Guts." Also, I don't want my delicate readers to reprimand me for reading books they themselves are disgusted by.

Without digressing any further, he wrote the words "Justin who now Fears Pool Drains," which helped make my nonsensical conversation with him immortalized. Now, I'll always see this and recall my weirdest conversation within any author that I had met. At least, it wasn't the James Marsters encounter that resulted in James Marsters and I essentially sharing a special bonding moment over being impoverished. This only happened because I had to mention to him that I could not afford his autograph.

On the way home, I was still stunned by my surreal moment with Chuck Palahniuk. Due to being overtired by the strenuous exercise of toting around hefty books all day, I decided to spend 15 dollars on traveling home via NJ transit versus waiting five hours for my Bolt Bus. My heroic parents luckily salvaged me but I was essentially trapped at the Trenton Transit Center because karma decided to intervene. Vengefully, it produced wire issues on the railways between Trenton and Philadelphia which left me stranded. Again, I'm fortunate to have parents who actually rescued me. Imagine my day if I were stuck at the Trenton Transit Center with some of the midnight zombie crew? Believe me, there were definitely some deprecated people already invading the station at around 8 or 9pm. No station in Philadelphia, Camden, and Trenton is left unaffected by these invasive zombies.

Anyways, my quiet, secluded life needed this event. Before this, I was starting to collect dust while trying to write and research all day ever since my college term ended. Hopefully next year, I'll devise a better travel plan which doesn't leave me wandering around New York with a massive sack of books.

2011-05-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Adam and Eve Interpretation Part 2

It all began with "Eve," the one wily female that has become emblematic of the tempter and seducer of fragile men. Men are viewed from this wrongful Christian interpretation of the Adam and Eve myth as being victims of the enigmatic strength of women. Strangely, this depiction empowers women even if the depiction of Eve as a femme fa-tale figure is primarily viewed as an insidious model.

At the core of the Christian heart lies a great masculine fear of uncontrollable lust and desire. The contents of Augustine's "Confessions," is an elaborate prayer to God to help defeat the sinister, unappeasable hunger for lust. Soon enough Augustine realizes that women are blameworthy for this lust. Instead of being emboldened by a true realization of his internal sin, Augustine realizes he can craft women into the perfect scapegoat.

Interestingly, Adam does an identical thing when he blames Eve's craftiness for eating the apple of the Tree of Good and Evil. While some Christians think in a linear fashion and therefore think that an apple carries the potential to bring about the fall of the world. Both Adam and Eve may be utilizing the apple as a scapegoat for a symbolic sin. Could Eve have had an adulterous relationship with the snake who Christians view as Satan, While Jews interestingly view as nothing but a stand-in for some force of evil, many Christians have now led us to believe that the Jews were unconsciously writing about the medieval figure of "Satan." (Though they know subconsciously that their interpretations are erroneous, they still "tempt" their minds to feel obligated to believe in the false literal interpretation in order to earn their ID God's acceptance)

More than likely, there are different underpinnings to this myth. Religious scholars who have no affiliation with any one religion always remark that the most accurate interpretations of Biblical myths originate from the Jewish faith. Christian theologians often make the mistake of viewing Christianity arrogantly. Thus, when they read through the Bible, they think of the Christian revisionist view as being highly superior. In result, the Adam and Eve story becomes more proof of the disreputableness of women and the wrongful idea that they are solely culpable for unleashing good and evil in the world.

The Jewish depiction instead describes the Adam and Eve story as metaphorically standing for being in refined kinship with God. The fall of humanity never truly happened as some unprecedented event in the history of the realistic world. It is nothing but a mythic way of describing ideal wholeness when we are not dwelling within our reality. Actually, the whole Adam and Eve story is like a reverie of being unionized with nature and the ineffable sense of God. That reverie though is dispersed when we are awake and are dismayed to discover that reality involves some polarization within ourselves which we mythically depict as forces of good or evil. Then again, as we have uncovered more information about ourselves, we are becoming overstimulated to the point where these things appear as ambiguous. Thus, a religious structure helps us to regain the illusion of simplified morals. It helps us to imagine that we are inherently simplistic to the point where we either obey our religious structures or the anarchy of our consciences.

Eve is left with that choice when beholding the apple of the core of her "superego." She must decide whether or not she wants to follow the traditional rules of gender imposed on her by a patriarchal religion. Or, she wants to explore and then learn through trial and process about the complexity of the facets of this universe. Christians weirdly view Eve's choice to follow her own conscience as an emasculation process where Adam follows the whims of her wife rather than his superior masculine ego. With this interpretation, women would be deprived of individual rights and a sense of humanity within the world of Christendom.

With the Jewish interpretation, they do not bother deluding themselves with the superficial literalism of Christianity. Instead, they do not put much emphasis on the idea of gender when it comes to who is to blame for bringing the destruction of the world. It is merely a allegorical tale of divorce from our ideal dream of a world where our maker is tangible, rather than intangible. Also, there is oneness within everything. We are in communion with nature or the sense of God. In this dream of ours, we are separated from the social constructs of gender, religion, and other things that we insist upon having to distract us from the overbearing sense of nihilism within the inexplicable world of our universe and individual existence.

In the end, the Adam and Eve story is not the fallacious scientific account of the probable creation of the world. God does not conjure things like a wizard within a fairly tale. JRR Tolkien's Simarillion reflects the artistry of the creation account. JRR Tolkien does not disrespectfully make the Christian creation story become devoid of mystery or artfulness. Instead, he composes it into a evocative song that conveys to us the mysterious language of God being "art." Art has been unable to be explained within human language which is linear. Art instead is nonlinear and therefore requires careful examination. Perhaps, JRR Tolkien might have believed that the idea of the Bible being divinely inspired was not the foolish idea of some Christians that some tangible, curmudgeonly God spoke for a week to the prophets while they miraculously neglected using the bathroom or eating just to write down every word of the Bible.

No, the creation of the Bible came through the necessity of humans to try to explicate a God that no one has a clear idea of. Only their dreams and visions that are summoned from their imaginations can weave some sort of mythic tome that provides a collection of parables that were never meant to literally speak of religious truths. Instead, they were the equivalent to the Greek myths in that they provided an imaginary history that cohesively reflects our futile search for meaning within an overwhelming universe where God infinitely appears nonexistent. When Christians impose literal interpretations on text that was written as a story of the imagined world of the metaphysical, they are artlessly denying people the privilege to freely engage in the universal spiritual search for meaning. Also, they are being very disrespectful of the history of Jewish tradition that surrounds the Bible. More often than not, they forget that originally that the Old Testament was meant as the mythical history of the Jewish people. Judaism did not exist just to later serve Christianity in providing text that would be completely revised. In many ways, Christians are anachronistic when they read the Old Testament and that is the next area of discussion I'll be delving into with my next post.

2011-05-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Menmoch the Devil Analysis: Spiritual Therapy for the Disillusioned Part 1: Attack of the Conscience

"Menmoch the Devil" is a breathtaking novel that was written by Anne Rice around 1995. The novel truthfully explores some profound spiritual concepts as Lestat envisages some encounter with the famed devil himself who curiously walks as an "ordinary man" At the beginning of the novel, Lestat embarks on his routine hunting for the morally-corrupt victim which will satiate his primal hunger. Normally, when feeding on their blood, images are transmitted from them that threatens to cause Lestat to feel remorse about his actions. Primarily, when animals prey on victims, they do not have moral images visited upon them which may limit their ability to deftly kill their victim.

Lestat's victim calls himself a mundane named "Roger," so we initially believe that he's indistinguishable from any of the other depraved victims whom Lestat killed. Originally, Lestat finds himself being desirous of being intimate with Roger. Since he is unable to exhibit his love in the usual mortal fashion of engaging in sex. He finds himself drinking from Roger to grant him the ecstasy of being intimate with another human being. Commonly, religious believers identify their innate desire towards God as being the motivator for futilely engaging in particular activities to discover that euphoria where a semblance of God can be felt. When we desire to be intimate with another human being, we are displaying our need to feel accepted by a greater intelligence. This does not necessarily translate always to sexual intercourse but some Christian cults in the past have felt that sexual orgasm would grant them a privileged, short-lived experience with the transcendent "God."

In Lestat's case, his blood lust might be believed to be a method of seeking out God through gratification of a person's sensual desires. In reality, Lestat does not truly want the fleeting feel of being gratified; he wants to find a discernible God within the chaotic, meaningless world of the "Savage Garden," where supposedly rapture caused by stimulation with art or pleasure are the only things which offer us meaning. Otherwise, we are meant to live all lives by engaging in pleasurable activities till we reach our natural ends. Then, our conscious existence disappears within the illusion of the meaningful aesthetics present within the Savage Garden.

Does Lestat truly believe these things? When remorse rebounds and materializes into the apparition of Roger, Lestat is faced with the "ghost of his past," similar to the Charles Dicken's tale: "A Christmas Carol. Roger is in a sense, Jacob Marley. Roger foreshadows Lestat's spiritual quest by alluding to his need to protect Dora with all of his ability. Dora represents the individual with spiritual fervor that Lestat has desired ever since envisioning himself as a priest as a lad. Sadly, his own psychological faults have been immortalized and now he only lives to thrive on plenteous amounts of pleasure. He no longer has to worry about the inevitability of death and the possibility that a great morass of nothingness awaits him beyond that point.

When Roger tells about his life, Lestat identifies with Roger who also is a murderer at heart whom also gravitates towards wanting to know God. Yet, they seem to be unable to due to unidentifiable dispositions that make them commit vices. These vices make the idea or concept of God seem impossible because they feel they are too steeped in immorality to be effectively saved as promised by various verses within the Bible. Therefore, they decide it is preferable to view the world as the "Savage Garden," where temporary experiences of great pleasure offer enough meaning to sustain our lives till we've reached the end.

When Roger leaves, Lestat soon encounters Satan or Memnoch the Devil who tries to cater to Lestat's spiritual needs by offering him a spiritual vision of heaven and hell. Lestat opts to delay it for two nights until he feels confident that he is not delusional and that this visitation by the devil is truly a rational image and not a figment of his demoralized imagination.

As with Scrooge, Lestat know must endure the wait till he is ushered into the ineffable dimension of hell and heaven. In the next post, I'll be continuing my analysis of "Memnoch the Devil," with Lestat's vision of heaven.

2011-05-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Analysis of the "Garden of Eden," Story

The Garden of Eden story is principally a creation story fashioned in the same style that the Greek story of "Pandora's Box," was written. Curiously, both these stories indict the female and her strong inquisitiveness as being the sole reason for the fall of humanity. Due to this mistranslation, The Garden of Eden story has become one of the most dangerous stories in existence. If it was viewed primarily as a harmless story filled to the brim with allegorical language, the story would have been bereft of any dangerous consequences.

Yet, Christianity has besmirched the story with their own arrogance. The Jews had never meant for the story to be handled as some literal account of creation. Either way, Christianity historically misconstrued the old testament, the Torah and forced it to be filled with underlying secret messages that tell of their place of supremacy among all the major world religions. If one of the noted writers of the Bible who were neither Moses or Abraham were even to have heard of Biblical literalism, they would have greeted this absurd idea as something that is not just purely idiotic but sacrilegious as well.

In Sunday School, kids are indoctrinated into the literary falsehood of reading text literally and superficially. We are supposed to discredit the rational idea of imaginative constructs and denounce those in favor of deluding our mind into the idea that Adam and Eve had Godiva hair, insatiable lust issues, and God was both tyrannical and petty.

My main scruple with the creation account was the loony idea that an apple literally represented the unacknowledged existence of the polar opposite forces of good and evil. Even at the age of six, the idea of an apple literally representing those things was pure idiocy. I was accustomed to the force of imagination and it was proven to be something worthwhile. It could create some very alluring tapestries and stories which promised deeper meaning underneath the surface.

In literary terms, delving below the surface is finding the anagogical meaning. Some could interpret this as finding the subtext: What is the true significance of this story below the magnetic facade? Many religious individuals misread the Bible with an intent to read without the inclusion of their analytical lens. Perhaps, the child's mind that has not been naturally worked to utilize this cognitive power of seeking true comprehension through questions is a wiser method of understanding cryptic Biblical texts.

When we plunge below the surface, we sense that this story was never meant to be a literal, scientific account of creation. Instead, it elaborates upon the ineffable place of being in spiritual communion with some benign, enigmatic God. The "God," figure within the Creation story is not meant to be a literal God just like "Aslan" within Narnia was never meant to be a real deity within the imaginary world of Narnia. He's not something our mind can synthesize and even constrain with gender specific nouns. He, She, or it might easily be a profound supreme being that can only be seen through the human lens of being nonexistent in our terms of existence.

Maybe, our artistic powers endow us with the power to envisage a relational God. We feel disconsolate by the unapproachable God, the agnostic God. Therefore, we must place him within the framework of a story and then extrapolate the way in which he reacts to our vices and mistakes. Whenever God commands something, he is the indistinguishable voice of reason or superego within our minds. Sometimes, like in Noah's Ark story, God instead could be shaped into someone as vengeful and conceited as Noah who never expended any mental energy to empathize with all the people who died in this great deluge. Another post of mine will show the faults of Noah rather then the benevolent "Noah" who receives so much adulation that many Christians have forgotten about the elements of Greek tragedy that persist in the Noah tale.

What can we learn from the "Garden of Eden," story? Perhaps our efforts to understand God are thwarted whenever we sought to impose our will on his. The true underlying purpose of the "Garden of Eden," myth lies with the subversiveness of fettering God to our obstinate will. Whenever we do something "in the name of God," we could be doing something definably immoral. But, we still beseech our psychological preferred God construct to support us even if we are engaging in malicious activities. Is God commonly used as the "ends that justified the means," which is the root source of encouragement for our actions? Within this Machiavellian equation, God is nothing but a motivator for our selfish actions.

Is this the fall of humanity then? It is not a literal fall as vividly described in this myth. Rather, it is a psychological pull towards our selfish cortex that resides in our brain. We depart from the enigmatic, wondrous God who is rightly higher than our futile systems of languages and constructs. Soon enough, our Freudian egos conceptualize a smaller God. When Eve and Adam are consuming the apple, they are satiating their egos with a God that will do their will only. This apple can allow us to hate, maim, and ignore the victims of humanity's selfish actions. Instead, our new sovereign "ego" God will allow us to be sanctimonious and control those of a lower hierarchy with stringent dogmatic rules that are never truly God ordained.

In my next post, I want to explore this issue in more depth. One of the main points I want to bring up is an exploration of sexism and how many of the Bible stories were manipulated to promote the neurotic belief that women should be subservient to the will of man rather than God. Then again, within Christianity, God does become nothing but the epitome of masculinity.

2011-05-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

Immortal Cynics

Within time’s essence

I’m omnipresent

I prefigure everything

Sometimes, I can foresee the blissful pockets of light

In the lives of others albeit

My own desolate life

Where time wills me along with the

Swift inclination of mankind’s desires

Often, I can recall that lover

Who left me lovelorn and disillusioned

Due to the vigor of unhealthy passions

That pervaded my active mind

They existed long before I became intrinsic to time

It was sometime…

Before I became acquainted with the

Eternal Solemnity of time

Dressed impeccably, my desirable lover sat on the

White, ceramic steps leading to the stately halls of Caesar

He never adorned himself with doleful toga of black

Instead, he was fashioned with immaculate white

Much like the exaggerated rendition of him that haunted my mind

Ever since laying my eyes on him

My wandering stares grew stealthy

As they secretly stole glimpses of him

During those times he held a pensive stare

Below this thoughtful façade, a myriad of philosophical thoughts

Danced deftly through the golden halls

Of his erudite mind

Trapped within the mirrors of this hall was

Droves of sullen reflections of myself

Who were transfixed with his beauty

But, the sadness that defaced my happiness was

The realization that your thoughts never revolved around me

Even when my thoughts sought to barricade yours with

Subtle statements that alluded to my love for you

You always sauntered quickly

Out of the hall of my detested reflections

Soon enough, the manifestations of your true source of passion

Unraveled itself and became a wan lady

With your beloved golden razor, you delicately shaved her

Golden hair off her voluptuous, naked body

Till a pile of golden locks became a bed of hair

For the two lusty lovers

Once, I heard his pleasurable moan softly

Reverberate through the room

I scrambled out of his deplorable fantasy

Then I submerged myself into the pool of my tears

With my eyes closed and my passions quelled

I beseeched Hades to take me to the underworld

With the thoughts of my lover eradicated

Along with the underlying yearn that

Engendered this overwhelming need for my submission

Unbeknownst to me, it seems that I had murdered myself

While wading through the wreckage of my dreams

Because of the poison I laced my wine with

I had no true need of Hades intervention

Through my own efforts, my reality finally blackened climatically

Yet, the plague of my unrequited passion would remain

Now, I sit within time’s ineffable eternity

Watching other lovers face a similar plight

Where their respective lovers or

Series of lovers never reciprocate

The passion that uncontrollably surfaces within our minds

Each of their ends were individually tragic and hopeless

Somewhere in the domain of their afterlife,

They have become immortal cynics of the

Bastard of romance

2011-05-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

Ghostly Passion

Your thoughts, ideals, and faults

Conspire against my melancholy

Your imagined soul; your incorporeal treasures

Mystifies me and grants me a distinct existence

Before I had only been a diaphanous form

Unseen and unrecognized by others and even myself

When you whisper my name to invoke my spirit,

My wits and consciousness are fused together

So that I’ll know you and myself

Yet, a great trepidation causes perdition to reclaim me

My devil entraps me in a tomb of self doubt

Where I forego thinking about you or myself

Reality becomes a pristine delusion which

Floats gently on this stream of forgotten conscience

In this self-conceived inferno,

Judas’s treacherous self resides within my core

While innumerable false selves march through my ruins

With both dignity and vainglory

Some projection of you

Pervades the indefinable Purgatory beyond this hell

Standing apprehensively upon the threshold between hell and purgatory,

I try to muster some determination

To verbalize the ineffability of my love for you

Inevitably, I keep falling from one ring to another

Till eventually I have succumbed to Judas’ deceit

In my mind, I struggle in vain to depict our paradise

Quickly my blistering reality of

Being spurned continuously by Judas’ venomous words returns

I struggle futilely to liberate myself from

My self-imposed exile from you

But, my inability to define my feelings about you

Keeps me imprisoned within this masochistic prison of mine

Inexplicably, I can tolerate the pain of being without you

Rather than be misunderstood

How can you expect me to love you?

Especially, when you have neglected to notice my torture

Can’t you hear my plaintive screams that can

Only be heard deep within my forgotten spirit?

Do you not love the disconsolate person I am without you?

Sometimes, I wonder if you are hiding beyond my shadow realm

I fervently hope that you understand my persistent silence

Wrought by devastating fear of your lack of reciprocation

Hopefully, I can cleave to your spirit and

Ascend to the heavenly plane by

Entrusting you to uplift and appreciate my ghostly self

2011-05-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

Vampire Chronicles Philosophy: Duality: Mind/Body Problem

Traditionally, many philosophers have struggled futilely over the exact principles of the mind and body problem. One explanation, materialism, is the strong belief that the structure of our minds and conscience are merely a part of a large scheme of neurological processes that we have not completely identified. This is the core element of atheistic belief where the mind itself is a construct: the identity of "I" is merely something that allows for us to recognize ourselves. Also, we tend to naturally be egotistical therefore we want to believe that a part of ourselves has divine properties and might not be bound to nature's laws.

In the duality belief, there truly is a difference between the brain organ and the intangible essence of our minds. The intangible essence of our minds is commonly called our "soul." Typical religious belief believes that the soul is the governing source of our being. Without it, we are demented like in the devolution process that humans undergo after receiving the dementer's kiss within Harry Potter. Our minds enliven us with certain spiritual gifts and unique personalities. It instills us within a hope that we can be separated and salvaged from the eventual nihilistic process of natural death.

Within Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles books, the vampires live beyond the point of the mortal existence. In that earlier one, they had no faith within the existence of the immaterial self. They were bound only to the bias of humanity where human structures and systems are our only attempts to try to properly define a life that seems to be only explained through the concept of weakly chained anomalies. In this world the two options for reasons for being lie with being accidentally placed within an accidentally created universe. Lestat describes as a verdant paradise where the only things we can solely believe in are naturalistic laws and the aesthetics of nature. Other than that, we can determine any sort of greater existence. Later, within Memnoch the Devil, Lestat is finally offered a glimpse of heaven and hell though he cannot rationally believe within any of it.

Therefore, though the vampire existence provides strong proof of the existence of a dual self in which a material and immaterial self coexist: this is still overruled by the mortal memories that still reside within the vampire mind. Certainly, the powers that vampires such as Lestat accompany those who are accepting of the possibility of a spiritual dimension to themselves. While Louis ruminates over his human memories and is fettered by them,therefore; he does not exhibit any of the vampire powers because he has not accepted his vampire self and his intangible spirit that lives within the vampire form.

So in some ways, Louis represents the vampire epitome of materialism because he remains closed off from his spiritual dimension. Lestat differs from this because he accepts it because he's capricious by nature and open to new possibilities. For him, those things are titillating and therefore he warmly embraces them. Possibly, Anne Rice uses Lestat and Armand more because as the books progress, the doors to the spiritual world are opened and therefore Anne Rice can begin to explore all her deep questions about a realm that lies frustratingly unexamined within our real world.

Within the next edition of the Vampire Chronicle's Philosophy series, I'll be delving into the second book "The Vampire Lestat," and begin to explore his characteristics and how they relate to spirituality. Also, I really want to highlight the elements of the novel that foreshadow the events that culminate within "Memnoch the Devil." Increasingly, I have become delightfully aware of the interconnectedness of all Anne Rice's books especially the first five Vampire Chronicle's books.

Please be on the lookout for more and feel free to also participate in the Game of Thrones Readathon. Details for that are mentioned in the last post!

2011-05-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

FantastyFreak's Countdown to BEA!! PLUS Information about the Game of Thrones Readathon Below.

Writing these posts with sustained interest is definitely a challenge when my blog has spurts of high readership than it starts to tank. So, for me to invest so much interest and energy into this blog for the next two weeks, would either earn me the title of being "crazy" or "remarkable."

Anyways for the next two weeks here, I pledge to write a post to nearly every day or every other day in anticipation of the E3, Comic-Con of the publishing world: Book Expo America. I'm planning to attend this bibliophile extravaganza May 25th. Before then, I'll be hosting many new innovations on this blog and updates to continuing series of posts including the infamous Vampire Chronicle's Philosophy post series.

Future series within the next week will include a "Song of Ice and Fire" Readathon. I feel isolated when striving to read through the series. Like Jon Snow, I feel like the bastard son of blogs because I feel rather neglected and stranded alongside a bleak looking wall. My only companion happens to be a promiscuous dwarf named "Tyrion" who has many accounts of his various conquests which sadly have nothing to do with military prowess.

Anyways, I've seen many blogs crumble to ashes when trying one of these series. It seems everyone is doe-faced when these sorts of occur. "Oh Fantastyfreak!" they'll say astonishingly. "Of course, I'm interested in joining your reading brigade! But, are you sure you want to promote the reading of something so profane, gruesome, and kinda risqué?"

"See, here dedicated blog readers, I feel that by reading this together we can overcome our discomfort with scenes that include a certain tribe of people called the "Dortraki." I think instituting this readathon will make the daunting task of reading these scenes and these hefty books far more enjoyable. I'm not saying they're bad books. Quite the reverse, they're actually the quintessential fantasy book with great examples of rich characters and well-assembled soap opera. But often, reading any book alone can be lonesome. Plus, some people just do not have enough perseverance to make it through each book. So, I think through having me spark discussions about a set number of pages, I can convince people to take up arms and read along with me."

From this point on,I'll be including continuing commentary on my Twitter. If I gather enough interest through people joining my blog and the discussions here, I will reveal more surprises along the way.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT:
With my fervor for the series and also for this blog, I think this will be neat concept if people are willing to partake. Your first assignment involves ready the first 100 pages of Game of Thrones. On Wednesday, be prepared to have those pages read as I will be writing a post on the history of bastard sons. Also, I am planning to write some discussion questions for everyone to answer. Some topics will include discussion about omnipresent gender roles within the world, historical similarities to the "War of the Roses," and the first unveiling of the underside of all these characters. I believe that these books cleverly have archetype characters that persuade us to be comfortable within the confines of the story. Until, wise George R.R. Martin pulls these things apart and we start to realize the grand differences between this book and tradition. Could his series be trying to adjoin the elements of antiquity (with obvious comparisons with the War of the Roses) and contemporary social and political issues?

2011-05-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

Immortal Obsession by: Denise K. Rago

Similar to indie music, there is an off-branch of book publishing where the books published are physically published in low quantities while the largest margin are limited to electronic sales via Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble's Nook. Denise K. Rago's book Immortal Obsession happens to fall in this growing market. Luckily, I happened to procure a genuine bound copy. For some reason, I haven't found the virtual Kindle or Nook editions to be irresistible enough for me to secure a transition from the old school format to the new school format.

Suprisingly, Denise K. Rago definitely did not have immediate problems with engrossing us within the first severeal pages when our attention is fleeting. From about page one to page five, our attention spans are low, our base desires or Freudian ID is pretty overactive. So, it takes a talented writer to surmount these and fill us with only one desire to continue paging through her book. From the first few pages, I gathered the impression that Denise K. Rago was partially emulating Anne Rice's decadent, sensual style of writing. Ever since, Interview with the Vampire, has been published, there have been many imitations of Anne Rice's style. In the publishing world, whenever a large, iconic bestseller is featured in the market, writers become enviable and write books similarly to these authors to attain some similar sale figures to the best-seller.

But, Immortal Obsession deviates from the Anne Rice style through incorporating known archetypes from many urban fantasy books. At parts, you can discern that there are elements of Richelle Meade and Anne Rice bundled in there along with Denise K. Rago's own unique interpretation of the vampire genre. Some people might even find the plot surrounding an enigmatic human girl with suspect powers being reminiscent of Twilight. But,Denise K. Rago's vampires are certainly not forswearing their chastity and their literary vampire nature: sometimes they can be quite the little nymphomaniacs.

Sprinkle in some fast-paced action sequences and back-stories similar to Angel and you start to notice that this book is an entertaining hodgepodge of all the author's favorite elements of the urban fantasy or paranormal romance genres. When I take note of this, I'm not criticizing her persay. But, I think the market is currently saturated with a lot of vampire books to the point where we cannot help but unconsciously involve some favorite elements that truly define this genre.

Overall, I did not find the book to be "poignant," or anything related to the term "legendary." In actuality, I found the book to be mostly a very entertaining read or a homage to the urban fantasy genre overall. Meaning, this book will not become the epitome of the urban fantasy genre but it would definitely be enjoyed by fans who tend to have leanings toward this genre and type of story-telling. Again, I did not find this book to be wholly profound in any measure. But, the book was definitely readable which is often a very hard comment to make especially since my attention does tend to wane by page three or four of many books. Unless, an author has an established plot line or some inkling of character development by page five then I normally don't even waste my time with the book. Fortunately, this book passed my hardest task of actually be a book that did not require dogged determination to finish. Yet, it certainly was not a book that will be memorable for any literary significance but that stage is often very hard to reach.

So, if you're finding yourself vampire deprived this summer, I suggest that you read this book when in need of a good beach read! If you're expecting something that will ultimately replace Anne Rice then you might need to keep scouring the book shelves!

By the way, the author's page and blog happens to be here if you are interested in attaining more information about this book, click here.

2011-05-07T13:16:00.000-07:00

Eden

Every time it rained:

The moment where sunshine was denounced

In the name of the melodramatic dark sky

I visited the shadowy figure

Seated against the tallest oak

Buried Underneath the torn green umbrella

That was a natural feature of these aged woods

When I approached the figure, I chastened myself

For the menacing snore

But I continued to crawl in the mud and the undergrowth of the woods

Till I found myself seated close enough

To begin to feel the rapture

Of being cloaked in their shadow

The figure persistently ignored me

While I sat with my mouth agape

In shock over their darkened beauty

Somewhere in my mind, I recalled a few precious details about them

I made the figure resplendent and masculine

Then, I etched a sardonic smile and bedazzling eyes

All that was left was the hair to which I used my own

To offer the figure some resemblance of myself

Suddenly, the figure’s bodice became more voluptuous

As their breasts gained more density

Some other things completely vanished and

Left signs of a feminine anatomy in their trace

Yet the figure’s face was still remarkably steely

One could even say that it was still masculine

I approached the figure tentatively while

Contemplating whether to kiss them or not

In the human world, I would be smoldered by flames of ignorance

Then I would be expected to be incessantly burnt within

Some netherworld of the damned

To me, everyone who has ever loved virtuously and spiritually is there

Beseeching a curmudgeonly supreme being

For an ounce of true humanity

To love this figure irrevocably, I forswear abstractions of the human God

By bridging our souls, I rediscovered a new enigma

I felt connected to a new sense of God

One that was cloaked and abhorred by the world

But could be excised by the acceptance of the love that our heart bears

I overlooked the ambiguity of the shadowed figure’s self and kissed them

The façade of my wearied self sank away

Along with the chain of puritanical values

This kiss was neither bestial nor chaste

It was a kiss that cut deep to the spirit

Cradled in their arms

With all my insecurities vanishing

I felt my nihilistic self become forsaken

For once, I felt the gravity of my love for the grandeur of the world

Signaled by the rapid pacing of my heart and

The euphoria of feeling the authentic grace of the God

Too mysterious for the primeval senses

2011-04-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

New Article on my Death Seer Blog!

Click the Image Above to be redirected to my other blog specially devoted to my novel in works, "Death Seer!"

2011-04-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

Another Reflection upon the Absurdity of Hell

I am extremely disenchanted with Christianity due to the easy answers about hell or the malicious, inhuman depictions of it. Actually, I now identity as an agnostic because I just cannot rationally believe that one religion amongst an innumerable amount of other religious interpretations could be the paved road to heaven. It ignores our complex minds which are fraught with doubt. The idea of confident belief in something transcendent and unknowable makes the idea of blistering eternity for those who doubt even minimally seem both unreasonable and even sadistic.

I am afflicted with scrupulosity therefore the entire notion of hell was a mind poison for me. Once I started unraveling the logistical problems of it and the paradoxes it formed, I no longer could believe truthfully within superficial Christianity unless I feigned belief. But, what human could really control ever aspect of their minds when all of us view and synthesize thoughts and observations differently? If that is true, then why would we exempt certain people from hell just because someone had the best genetic predisposition towards having decisive beliefs in this vast number of mostly human created doctrines about the metaphysical world.

Also, I cannot honestly believe that any denizen of heaven could live peacefully with the knowledge that the people we love are in hell. Yet, some Christians cruelly denounce you for being too sentimental. But really, I must wonder if then God has some underlying prejudice towards those who are empathetic. I certainly cannot abide by a God's rules if that God was unforgiving towards the errors within my friend's thoughts or beliefs. This God that would cruelly punish those that see God differently and beyond the human construct would be called a sociopath within our reality.

Some forms of Christianity also have informed women who have shown to desire spiritual leadership roles to be hell bound. Recently, a well-admired priest in the Catholic church was excommunicated for showing support for women priests. Symbolically, the church felt that his views were heretical and adverse to God's laws. In many ways, these Christians would thus say that this priest was no longer bound to heaven.

Other Christian sects see this as a non-issue and therefore would not believe it to factor into God's decision upon whether we are to go to hell or not.

Essentially, the whole idea of hell was created all for the sake of preserving order in an agrarian culture. Also, it is a Machiavellian concept that insures believers a passage to heaven if they repent a certain prescribed number of times for certain vices. More importantly, every Christian has a different notion as to who goes to hell. Furthermore, we have varying ideas of things that are dictated by sins. Also, we tend to blindly vilify those who are aberrations. Instead of treating them kindly, we sentence them to hell in our minds because they do not fit within the social context of the church community. Essentially, this makes religion more similar to a society with certain conventions rather than a community fit for a being that cannot be bound to a litany of absurd doctrines.

Overall, I forbid myself to be unloving all for the sake coercing people into a human-created belief structure that certifies them eternal life. Also, I am disgusted by my former self-destructive thought process that kept me focused on only my salvation. In the end, Christianity was about creating a perfected visage that expressed doubt-free belief within doctrines I tricked my mind into believing. But when I really examined my beliefs, I felt filled with sin. Soon enough, a vicious cycle overtook where all my dreams and artistic thoughts were repressed all for the sake of forcing myself to believe in superficial, unprovable religious doctrines. Should I and other inquisitive people be condemned to hell just because we're wired to be artistic and unconventional thinkers? Are we to believe that God preordains people to hell based upon certain dispositions? How can anyone believe in this madness? Why would anyone forswear their right to love others or to humbly accept that God is an enigma just to have some earthbound religious structure acknowledge that you are destined to heaven?

Why should Christians believe ardently within something as cruel as a hell for the doubters or those whose thoughts about God deviate from the rest? Are we likening God to the most pettiest of school bullies? Basically if your theology is fallacious then you do not just get a bad grade and another chance for reexamination, you will be punished eternally for failing to perfectly conceptualize a supreme being in your human mind.

2011-04-19T15:06:00.000-07:00

Within Temptation "The Unforgiving," Review:

When one envisions Within Temptation, one thinks of onstage pyrotechs, poufy dresses, operatic vocals, and bombastic music. Within Temptation has always been the iconic symbol for both the symphonic metal genre and female fronted metal genre. Anyone with exposure to this genre knows of this band’s existence and their importance within the obscure world of European, symphonic metal.
David Grohl, lead singer of Foo Figters summed up his feelings about the band this way: “Wow this is a trip; this music is pretty wild.”
Within Temptation has always had a versatile sound. With each new album, they are open to experimenting with their sound. With their newest album “The Unforigivng,” they are unforgiving about taking radical directions with their newest album.
“With this album, we felt the time was there to take a new step in our creative development, to take it further and broaden our horizon.” Said Sharon Den Adel, lead singer of Within Temptation.
Indeed, this newest album is certainly a daring move on Within Temptation’s part. Their past albums mainly have focused on providing filmic music that would suit the soundtrack of either Mission Impossible or Lord of the Rings.
With “The Unforgiving,” they are moving beyond ethereal, fantasy-esque music and focusing instead on creating gritty, 80’s inspired rock music. Along with this music, they tapped Steve O’Connell, comic book writer of BloodRayne, to provide the main narrative that in part inspired the music for this album.
In many ways, using a comic book story to provide a concept for their album is not wildly unexpected for this band. Their music has always been inspired by films and novels that greatly inspirit members of the band.
Some fans will be expectantly wary of the sound and even presentation of the album. In nearly all the music videos, Sharon has been stripped of her decadent dresses. Instead, she dons the attire of a bad- ass rock chick who seems unafraid of facing the stigmas that are still attached to female metal vocalists overall.
This perseverance and fierce determination propels the music at sonic speed. From the beginning of their first track “Shot in the Dark,” the character of the song is stymied by the unexpected death of someone close by an unknown nemesis. There is a subtle foreboding tone that is expressed through the staccato guitar notes. While Sharon’s cautious vocals exemplify the initial shock of this tragic turn of events. It seems that the “Shot in the Dark,” was the unpredicted tragedy that brings about the eventual start of her struggle and the overriding intensity of the album.
Preceding this first track are two tracks that mirror different reactions to this sudden turn of events. “In the Middle of the Night,” begins the unceasing momentum of the album. Throughout the song, we are thrust into the desperation of the character’s feelings. With this death, the character needs vengeance above all else to appease herself.
The theme of vengeance has been recurrent in Within Temptation’s music. Both “In the Middle of the Night,” and “Faster,” work cooperatively to express the character’s unwillingness to be squelched by painful emotions. She will work tirelessly to bring forth justice in this unjust world of hers. In Faster, Sharon seems to scoff at the ineptitude of her status of victimhood within their past song “Caged,” by belting “I can’t live in a fairytale of lies.” Relating well with the album’s title “The Unforgiving,” the character in this song has no reservations about being an assertive female especially when the lack of justice in the world demands it.
Nearly all the songs of the album seem to symbolically reflect the necessity for women in the world to emphasize their strength. By having the music take a departure from the saccharine sounds of “The Silent Force,” to a far more darker and violent sound: Sharon seems to imply that female metal vocalists are not purely soprano vocalists. Additionally, a large, decorative princess gown is not a requisite part of Within Temptation’s sound.
As per usual, Within Temptation’s sound has been focused on creating an ephemeral sound that detaches us from the world. In this album, we are not only jerked from the world and seduced by Within Temptation’s epic sound. We are thrust into a universe where women do not need to constantly fit prescribed roles. Within their sound, Sharon does not need to maintain a high lilt to her voice to lull us into her sound. Instead, she can sing lower notes and still express a wealth of emotion.
At the end of their album, “Stairway to the Skies,” seems to express the character’s acceptance of death and the ambiguity of the existence of a higher power. Yet the song also speaks of the band’s artistic aspirations and their desire to rise above the confines of the labels of gothic metal, symphonic metal, or female fronted metal.
For Within Temptation, their sound is primarily focused on being a musical escape from the doldrums of genre music. Effectively, this album maintains their high mark of quality while completely recreating the atmosphere of this sound.
Fantastically, the guitar sounds are far more pronounced. This helps in showcasing the talent of the formerly silent, retreating guitar sounds of “Silent Force.” Additionally, Sharon proves that she had a wide vocal range by powerfully singing in a lower range.
Often throughout the music, the band does pay homage to the fan’s strict expectations. There are subliminal traces of both Sharon’s soprano vocals and the Gregorian choir. For the most part, the band instead focuses on evolving and differentiating their sound.
In the end, they succeed by releasing one of their best albums thus far in their career. Every song is both distinct and important to the theme of this album. Moreover, this album definitely piques the interest of new fans since the album offer a new musical experience.
Above all, I cannot wait to attend their concert to hear these finely crafted songs being performed live. Both “Iron,” and “In the Middle of the Night,” will be great songs to stir excitement among crowds at rock festivals.

2011-04-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

My Complicated, Unknowable Spiritual Identity:

In our Christian culture, I often feel that we decry truth as being disruptive. This antipathy towards truth when dealing with belief causes people like me to feel sinful in writing admissions of this sort. Often, I feel admitting to hurting someone verbally or physically would be handled with more grace than someone who admits to having a complicated unbelief within the tenets of one religion. To admit your agnosticism or atheism is to become traitorous to the Christian world. Therefore, more often than not, you become the prodigal son who shall never return to the Christian church. Actually, the prodigal son was involved with frivolity thus it was easier for him to admitted back into the Christian flock. But imagine if he had an internalized conviction that his beliefs might all be for naught. Perhaps, they were fleshed out all due to appeasing people around him. What if the very design of his religion beliefs was formed out of coercion from others rather then through vying to understand himself first?

For now, with some aplomb, I admit that I can no longer associate or identify myself with the Christian church as an institution. First off, I cannot have my beliefs be homogeneously similar to the beliefs held by other Christians. Moreover, I am unable to will myself to believe that a myriad of people on this Earth are wasted creations. Due to being created differently and being born within an entirely different culture, they have found that their religious identity is not that of a Christian. In order for myself to abide by the Golden Rule, I forbid myself from revering an interpretation of God that would force eternal punishment upon these people due to uncontrollable, inborn circumstances. I tried desperately to believe within the love and salvation of Christ but often that belief is trivialized by the belief within an infernal realm that declares these people with whom we think as inferior to be forced into hell.

Trying to live a Christian life has been destructive for me. Vying to form an acceptable facade of being devout caused me to form self-destructive behaviors. For the second part of my life, I have abhorred every piece of myself. In order to be complicit with the unreasonable laws of Christianity, I allowed all my questions and my inquisitive nature to forcefully be repressed. Throughout my life, I highly believed that many of the Bible stories were mythic in their function to explain a higher, inexplicable plane of existence. Tragically, many Christian tenets require us to make our Christian beliefs superficial to the point where we disallow the questions from forming and squelch our confused, limited human spirits.

Regularly, I felt like I was crushing my unidentified spiritual self into a prison. While, I unconsciously formed a preferable, sanctimonious visage. Every instance where a question, an unholy passion, or any vestige of my true self penetrated this facade, I exerted my energy daily into abusing myself to make me acceptable to others. As a result, my Christian identity felt false. It was nothing more than a gaudy facade to humanize me in the eyes of others.

When I nearly reached the brink of my level of disillusionment with my self,I felt a great need to know myself. As I nearly destroyed my very existence along with my repressed spirit, I felt that my hatred of my very self has been caused by a omnipresent demand by Christianity to treat my neighbors unkindly. Whenever, I expressed empathy for my gay friends, atheist, agnostic friends, or those of differing beliefs; I had to cruelly and sadistically accept that they are unbelievers that are destined for hell. As a part of accepting that belief, I had to dehumanize them within my mind as a part of accepting the blistering, inhuman notion of hell. My love for them had to be feigned like my supposed belief in the supremacy of the religion. I had to constantly reform myself and assert an arrogant, unyielding belief in things that are unprovable.

Instead of furthering this self-destructive path, I am officially not identifying myself as a Christian. I feel that I cannot love others by remaining in this polarized religion. Also, I feel that I cannot be selfless or open minded in a religion where more often than not that attitude is frowned upon because it expresses doubt within a religion that requires strong, unexamined beliefs. I’m thoroughly sick of offering mutinous smiles to my non-Christian friends.

More importantly, I am tired of falsifying my beliefs when I do not believe that Bible should be taken literally. I cannot believe in the unscientific belief in Noah’s Ark or the symbolic story of Adam and Eve. Personally, I believe that the Bible like any religious text is an attempt to explain the unknowable nature of God. To believe that we know everything there is to know about God is a lofty, impossible belief. The only method to believe in unprovable beliefs requires scare tactics. My Christian experience has been filled with apprehension: I felt that forcing my mind to pretend to have beliefs in God would earn me recognition as a human being.

Do I still believe in God? Yes, but I do believe that God, for me personally, is inscrutable in the context of Christianity. Freeing myself from this nominal label has made me feel more authentic. St. Augustine interestingly cautioned people against fabricating falsehoods to earn the respect of other humans. In many ways, my Christian belief was dictated by the social necessity to fit in. It never had anything to do with believing in God.

By disbelieving in Christianity, I have attained a stronger belief and appreciation for an artful, ineffable God. Also, it has allowed me to love others and it also has augmented my empathetic powers. For once, I am joyful and completely unbound. Unexpectedly, I have stronger moral beliefs that pertain to refraining from judging others and learning to love without inhibitions. For once, I have an unrestricted joy for the person I am who has been crafted by a God that does not require a cloistered religious institution.

Above all, I can be intellectually humble. I do not carry any biases or selfish qualities when approaching people with differing religious beliefs. To some extent, I am able to love and be emotive without feeling guility. Trapped in a Christian identity, I felt incapacitated by an insistence by others that sensitivity was dangerous. Throughout my childhood, I was bullied incessantly for being sensitive. Furthermore, the church itself was not a safe haven from me because it promoted that same prudish dislike for people who differ from archetypes. Meaning, if you are not a “masculine,” male or a “feminine” female then you are not living the Christian life. The same thing applied for nearly all my qualities like empathy, humility, and inquisitiveness. These things supposedly engender a toxic individuality therefore I must make them deplorable. To be moral, I had to conform to a distant,unfamiliar identity. If I could not settle into that identity, I had to painstakingly pray to God to make this self sink away to my subconscious.

I know I will be faced with the indignation and the confusion from many of my Christian friends. Yet, this admission has made my toxic anger dissipate. I no longer have to attend church and feel incensed towards every part of my self. Instead, I am liberated by the knowledge that my pacifistic self is not something to hate. A God that supersedes our understanding does not require me to selfishly hate myself for not being what the world defines as “masculine,” or “moral.” Instead, I can freely pursue my dream to learn everything I can about spirituality and the reasons for our need for belief in the metaphysical elements of the world. Above all, I want to have a real relationship with God even if the world identifies me as an agnostic, Unitarian, or a Quaker.

Now, I am no longer a nominal Christian. I’m a person who feels that their spiritual identity has no moniker. Instead, I strive to understand the universality of our human experience rather than a closed idea of that experience. I aspire to be a religious historian of some sort; I desire to see the interconnectedness of all the world’s major faiths. Religion, to me, is a beautiful aspect of my life as long as I can remain an observer from the distant with my questions being freely embraced.

2011-04-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Cry to Heaven By: Anne Rice Review

Anne Rice has granted voice and humanity to witches, assassins, vampires, and other supernatural creatures. Unbeknownst to some others, she has also utilized her literary skills to provide voice to eunuch choir boys from around the time of the Italian Renaissance. Commonly, readers are accepting of bloodthirsty vampires who produce death due to blood being a necessity for survival. Contradictorily, when it comes to eunuchs, readers are often less sympathetic and perhaps even apprehensive. We are desensitized to murder to the extent where it does not seems as morally wrong. Whereas, persons with ambiguous gender identification are castigated due to their unlocked and unknown potential. Therefore, in an effort to minimize this mystery, we brand these individuals as disordered and refuse to read stories where they appear fully human.

Wisely, Anne Rice uses this prevailing apprehension to her advantage. At the beginning, we can readily empathize with Tonio's plight and struggles because he has not yet been transformed into society's largest fear: the androgynous figure. Comfortably, we feel kinship with him because he has set, definitive gender roles. This male archetype allows Anne Rice for us to nestle safely within the story before being confronted with his literary "fall from grace." Mary Shelley's Frankenstein works similarly when we are greeted with Dr. Frankenstein, in that story, before he deviously invents an aberration of humanity.

Due to Christian ethos, gender expression is something that we wrongly believe to be static. According to that ethos, male and females should work adversely against their spiritual selves and mindlessly conform to some accepted archetype. Individuals that deviate from these comfortable archetypes are ill-treated and feared. Frankenstein worked more metaphorically in that he represented the outsider of society that hardly any humans can seek to empathize with. Our compromised morals often cloud our consciences from forming instinctive desires for true morality where we genuinely feel compassion for our fellow human: we feel a sincere bond of kinship for a person's spiritual worth.

In Anne Rice's literary world of eunuchs, music serves as the spiritual catharsis for the bereaved eunuchs who are not accepted by their culture. Within this music, they are imbued with a sense of passion and purpose within a world that has sought to debase them. Their angelic voices are the manifestation of intrinsic worth and beauty: it is the formerly suppressed spiritual self that is desirous of recognition.

Often in our world, our religion is soulless. Instead of being pervaded with a sense of appreciation for the diverse beauty of our selves, we are instructed to abhor the most deplorable parts. For an institution to gain power, there always has to be a stigmatized, scapegoated minority. Without that, the institution then cannot salvage their reputation by diverting people's attention from their own sin. There has to be a condemned, heretical group that will serve as the model of being biologically unfit for God's acceptance. With relation to Calvinistic principles, the people who are biologically suited for the religious life will thus earn acclaim and a higher place within the invented hierarchy. In this earthbound scheme of heaven and hell, it is not a rift between the sinful and the sinless. Reversely, it is the segregation between normality and abnormality, theist and atheist, and men and women.

Anne Rice's "Cry to Heaven," book is an immense book that expresses different messages for different people. For the musically or artistically inclined, it offers a message of acceptance for those people who often feel overlooked or misunderstood for their radical imaginations. In another sense, the book acts as an exploration of that largely ignored population in our world that fits neither the societal gender role of male and female. Yet, the book shows that their only means of attaining acceptance comes through having some profitable utility. It also shows that this utility characterizes the eunuchs as being both human and spiritual creatures. Therefore, they are not so different from those who comfortably blend within the female and male world.

This book is evocative and richly textured. Reading it will take a long length of time to fully appreciate and process the implications and purpose of the story. Like many of Anne Rice's other books, it can often feel excessively rich at points due to a few instances where the description dominates the story and character development. But, this problem is often alleviated quickly when Anne Rice rectifies this with wonderful sequences where the character, plot, and poetic descriptions work jointly to create an addictive, purposeful reading experience. After reading this book, you will certainly be dreaming long after of all the sumptuous images and complex details of this splendid story.

2011-04-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

*Disclaimer:Shirley Phelps has never interacted with me in any means therefore the post below was a devious April Fool's Jokes. I take full responsibility for the emotional damages wrought by seeing such a sinister figure.*

Philosophy of the Vampire Chronicles Part 3: The Duality of Claudia

What do Belinda, Claudia, and Mona all share in common? They are all precocious young girls whose maturity blurs the concept of age-related maturity. In typical literary fashion,Anne Rice almost deceives us into believing that either one of these three mature characters are older than they really are. When reading "Jane Eyre," I almost believed that Jane as a younger girl was truly endowed with wisdom beyond her years. Therefore, I was almost under the impression that Jane herself was much older than ten.
With Claudia, towards the middle portion of "Interview with the Vampire," you are almost beholden to the idea that Claudia herself is far older than the restrictive age of twelve. With her adult-like whims and predilections, your mind almost fashions her into a far older and sophisticated girl. In many ways, her age of maturity bends the perception of her in your mind to allow for her to appear aged. When in reality, Claudia is truly much younger than the perceived 26 year old Claudia.

   The instance within both the novel and film when Claudia hides the cadaver of the older women within her bed;Claudia is psychologically attuned to the very fact that her physical body should represent her age. Therefore, she almost lies in slumber with the cadaver and even playfully toys with it as though flirting with the idea of being mortal. With her mortal mental self intact, she cannot help but go through that same phase that all girls and boys ultimately go through where they cleave to the idea of being older. They begin to become increasingly frustrated by the limits the world places on themselves and therefore begin to question and often defy these structures. Every part of themselves has this unrealistic, romantic image of adulthood signifying uninhibited freedom. When in reality, being older just places us ironically in that same restive spot where we are still very insecure with ourselves.

    Anne Rice uses this same phase for Claudia to show that humanity is intrinsic to the vampire existence. Their minds have still not been configured to match the same perception of infinity that the vampire existence holds. Therefore, their internalized body clocks still triggers certain hormonal responses to different stages to life. Within Claudia, there is a burgeoning desire for sexuality. Her human mind still carries the promised expectation for sexual desire to provide her a new form of pleasure within her life. In many ways, it is one of the rites of passages of maturing as a human being to take part in that pleasure. Once the realization dawns that she's essentially impotent: She rebels against Lestat because she thinks her metamorphosis into a vampire has denied her the ability to experience this exclusive mortal pleasure.

   For vampires, the blood takes the place of all their base desires. For them, it temporarily forestalls any human feelings or doubts from clouding their euphoria within the vampire existence. Claudia herself never has any sudden need to experience sex till she permits her human desires to dominate parts of her mind. Fascinatingly, Louis' example provides Claudia with the ability to tap into those repressed feelings whereas with Lestat, she could be absolved of those clingy desires in order to fully enjoy the ecstasy of the vampire existence.

     In a sense, Louis awakens the sexual desire within Claudia which interestingly enough brings a rather controversial element of the Vampire Chronicles. If Claudia has mentally matured to the extent where she is having a sexual awakening then could that have been triggered by Louis. Could there be some inexpressible sexual desire between them. Meaning, could they imagine it within their thriving human souls. Yet their material, vampire bodies prevent those feelings from becoming manifest. This recalls the important trait that all Anne Rice's vampires share. They share a duality of body and mind. Within themselves, they have an immortal body that completely defies the age process of mortal bodies. Yet, their spiritual forms carry all the desires and inclinations that humans have.

    In the next Vampire Chronicles post, I shall be discussing in full the spirituality of "Interview with a Vampire," and how Anne Rice cleverly involves a deep discussion of the mind and body problem.