Anne McCaffrey

One of my favorite authors is Anne McCaffrey, known for her award winning "Chronicles of Pern" series. She is a Fantasy/ Science Fiction writer, and as such she is superb.


The first book I ever read of Anne McCaffrey was not her well known Pern series, but the Acorna series. Included in this series are the books following: Acorna, Acorna's Quest, Acorna's People, Acorna's People, Acorna's World, Acorna's Search, Acorna's Rebels, Acorna's Triumph, and the connected series called Acorna's Children includes First Invasion, Second Wave, and Third Watch.


Synopsis: A young child is found in an escape pod in deep space by three bachelor space miners. The child has some oddities; she has a opalescent horn growing from her forehead, hoof-like feet, and three fingers with only one joint. The miners raise her with a few interesting mishaps, but eventually she grows into a very gentle and loving young lady. She frees child slaves from the factories of Kezdet and is adopted by a wealthy gentleman who believes that she is a "ki-lin" or descendant of the ancient, legendary unicorns. Eventually, Acorna's family finds her, and she discovers that she is a "Linyaari", an alien race that is being exterminated by insectoid aliens. Acorna, with the help of her adopted benefactor and future life-mate, discovers a way to stop the massacre. After several adventures involving time travel, Acorna settles down in the rehabilitated home world of the Linyaari, and has a child whose adventures furnish the story line of the "Acorna's Children" series.


Also written by Anne McCaffrey, is the Talent series. Included in this series are the following books in a set of two "mini-series": in the Pegasus series are To Ride Pegasus, Pegasus in Flight, and Pegasus in Space. In the Rowan series are The Rowan, Damia, Damia's Children, Lyon's Pride, and The Tower and the Hive.


Synopsis (Pegasus): A few years into the future, parapsychic abilities are finally proven scientifically. After years of work, the many people with these abilities, called Talents, are accepted as useful contributors to society. With the help of strong teleporters, space can finally be habited by humans with little cost. These books chronicle the adventures of Peter Reidinger the first "Prime", a Talent of the highest ability known. Peter began the Federated Teleport and Telepath company, which loans its services to anyone who needs the help of any Talent. Peter is a quadriplegic who learns to transport himself by his talent.



Synopsis (Rowan): After a disaster on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons and a domed habitation, a piercing mental scream is heard by anyone with the least degree of Talent. The source of the scream is found to be a young girl of about two years of age. Taking the name of the mining village near where she is found, the Rowan is trained to become the Prime for Callisto. This book follows her search for a cure to her incredible loneliness, finally found in the love of Jeff Raven, a Prime from the outer reaches of the known universe. This series tells of the adventures of the Rowan-Raven descendants and their battles against an encroaching alien threat that seeks to destroy the human civilization.



The Chronicles of Pern are the best known of any of Anne McCaffrey's writtings. These begin with a suprising propensity for fantasy, instead of her usual futuristic science fiction. Eventually though, the reader discovers that Pern was an Earth colony that was severed from communication with Earth. When the Pernese discover an Artificially Intelligent computer, their way of life drastically improves.

Poetry of Martha Snell Nicholson

Probably one of my all-time favorite poets is Martha Snell Nicholson. She is able to speak plainly about her Christian faith, and is able to capture many of my feelings/fears accurately on paper, when I am so often unable to do so. Some blog I was reading lately informed me that April is Poetry Month...or something to that effect, so I thought that I should at least post some of my very favorite poems. So I hope you enjoy!

My Advocate (I performed this poem for my church one Sunday evening, as a dramatic monologue.)

I sinned. And straightway, post-haste, Satan flew
Before the presence of the Most High God,
And made a railing accusation there.
He said, "This soul, this thing of clay and sod
Has sinned. 'Tis true that he has named Thy name,
But I demand his death, for Thou hast said,
'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' Shall not
Thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead?
Send now this wretched sinner to his doom.
What other thing can righteous Ruler do?"
And thus he did accuse me day and night,
And every word he spoke, O God, was true!

Then quickly One rose up from God's right hand,
Before Whose glory angels veiled their eyes.
He spoke, "Each jot and tittle of the law
Must be fulfilled: the guilty sinner dies.
But wait.......Suppose this guilt were all transferred
To ME and that I paid his penalty.
Behold My hands, My side, My feet. One day
I was made sin for him, and died that he
Might be presented faultless, at Thy throne."
And Satan fled away. Full well he knew
That he could not prevail against such love,
For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!


Treasures

One by one He took them from me,
All the things I valued most,
Until I was empty-handed;
Every glittering toy was lost.

And I walked earth's highways, grieving.
In my rags and poverty.
Till I heard His voice inviting,
"Lift your empty hands to Me!"

So I held my hands toward heaven,
And He filled them with a store
Of His own transcendent riches,
Till they could contain no more.

And at last I comprehended
With my stupid mind and dull,
That God COULD not pour His riches
Into hands already full!


His Plan for Me
When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ
And He shows me His plan for me,
The Plan of my life as it might have been
Had He had His way, and I see

How I blocked Him here,
and I checked Him there,
And I would not yield my will --
Will there be grief in my Savior's eyes,
Grief, though He loves me still?

He would have me rich,
and I stand there poor,
Stripped of all but His grace,
While memory runs like a hunted thing
Down the paths I cannot retrace.

Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break
With the tears that I cannot shed;
I shall cover my face with my empty hands,
I shall bow my uncrowned head...

Lord of the years that are left to me,
I give them to Thy hand;
Take me and break me,
mould me to The pattern Thou hast planned!


These poems are definitely how I feel. I long for Christ to mold me into His Pattern. I want His Will for my life! As the speaker said this morning in chapel, "I just want MORE of Him!s" that is so true for me! I just want more of Him.

Soup

Yes, yes, I know, I haven't posted for awhile. But I AM writing.....I just don't think there's anything worth putting up, as yet. I'm working on a review of Anne McCaffrey's works at the moment, and that is taking more time than I had planned for having it take. So more posts soon to follow.. :)

I was just reminded of a series that I had not read in awhile, but practically grew up listening to while on long trips. (My parents were awesome, in that, we were always provided with audio books for the car.) So, ever since I can really remember, I have listened to Soup and Soup and Me (sorry for not obeying the proper rules of grammar, but I couldn't find the underline button, and my whole post is in italics which makes it pointless to try to italicize) by Robert Newton Peck.

Robert 'Rob' is a young boy growing up in Vermont. His best pal, Luther Wesley Vincent (goes by the name of 'Soup' because he hates his name so much) is his fellow partner-in-crime (instigator). These boys go through the normal growing pains of adolescence, including love for a girl (Norma Jean Bissel) and the fear of the class bully (a tobacco-chewing girl named Janice Rikker). Soup and Rob smoke 'corn silk tobacco' in 'acorn pipes' and go skinny-dipping against their mother's wishes. I laughed so much at their escapades and daring antics. From stealing the clothes from the Baptist Missionary Box to bouncing down a hill in an apple barrel, I enjoyed these books thoroughly! I LOVE the Soup series which now includes over ten volumes. I would definitely recommend these books to any age, and I wish our library carried them!


Until next time,

The Inconquerable Christ

(My Dad would read this with the song A Name I Highly Treasure played in the background)

The Inconquerable Christ


He came from the Father, to the bosom of a woman.
He put on humanity, that we might put on immortality.
He became the Son of Man that we might become the Sons of God.
He was in the world and the world was made by Him but the world knew Him not.
He came unto His own and His own received Him not;
but as many as received Him to them gave He the power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believed on His Name.
He came from heaven: where the winds never blow;
The rivers never freeze;
And the flowers never fail.
There they never call for a doctor, for no one is ever sick.
There are no undertakers and no graveyards; for no one ever dies, and no one is ever buried.
He was born contrary to the laws of nature:
Lived in poverty, and reared in obscurity;
Only once ever crossed the bounds of His homeland;
Yet in infancy He startled a king;
In boyhood He puzzled the doctors;
In manhood He ruled the course of nature;
He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep;
He healed the multitudes without medicine,
and made no charges for His services;
He never marshaled an army, drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun;
Yet no leader had as many volunteers as He had.
He never wrote a book, yet all the libraries in the country could not hold the books that could be written about Him.
He never wrote a song, yet He has furnished the theme of more songs than all the songwriters combined.
He never founded a college, yet no institute could boast as many students as He had.
He is the Star of astronomy, the Rock of geology, the Harmonizer of all discord, and the Healer of all diseases.
Great men have come and gone, yet He lives on.
Herod could not kill Him;
Satan could not seduce Him;
And the Grave could not hold Him.
He laid aside his purple robe for a peasant’s gown.
He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor.
How poor?
Ask Mary.
Ask the Wise Men.
He was born in another’s stable;
Sailed in another man’s boat;
Rode on another’s beast;
and was buried in another man’s tomb.

All men have failed, but not Him.
He is the Ever Perfect One,
the Chief among ten thousand.
He is the Altogether Lovely,
And He is MY Savior.

VIP Day "fun"

Wow. I seem to remember some person telling me that the week of IHC/VIP was extremely hectic, but I did not really think that the busyness would be applicable to me! How wrong I was! If one looks even slightly less than harried and harassed, than one is immediately given multiple tasks to perform within the next few minutes. I've decided to just fake the "I'm extremely busy right now! Please don't even talk to me! So much to do!" look, just so people won't give me random jobs. Especially the whole "talk to the strangers, make them feel like they belong, but don't ever tell them anything negative!" job. That one isn't very fun at all! (perhaps I'll pull some hair out of my hairstyle to create the "frazzled" appearance)
Tonight I have four "VIP'ers" staying with me in my room! (excuse me while I scream hysterically.) At least I'm working until five, although that does cut drastically my ability to spend time with my sister, "family", and youth group from church. (oh, I had better explain the whole "family" thing... ever since I moved to Idaho, I have homeschooled with another family, the Trues. So for the past six or seven years, I have spent an average of six days a week with this family [they are the music ministers at our church, so we see them on Sunday as well], in addition, we also spend most of the summers on vacation together in the same condos with adjoining rooms and all that kind of stuff. I know them so well, that I pretty much have claimed them as family, even though there is no "blood realtionship". In fact, I know them so well, that the middle boy, Andrew, has told me not to ever talk to his girlfriends, because I always have a good *insert embarrassing* story to tell about him. (hehehehe) By the way, we called our "school" the "Truely Luckey Academy" :) Sorry about that whole tangent that I went off onto for some strange reason. :) Anyway, VIP Day is loads of fun!

Robert Asprin

I have decided to get my notebook out and begin at the beginning of my list of authors, since I had a difficult time deciding which book to review next.

Robert Asprin is a very humorous author to read. He delights in words with double meanings.
The first series I read by Robert Asprin was the MythAdventures featuring Skeeve the Magician, who resides on the planet of Klah (which makes him a Klahd...."clod"...get it?) He is a thief who was captured by a magician and was forced to become apprenticed to said magician as repayment for his thievery. Just as his mentor tries to amaze him with a "summoning" spell, assassins kill the old magician, leaving Skeeve in the presence of a "Demon"(another play on words, "demon" is actually a nickname for "Dimension hoppers") Anyway, these two make a interesting team, and are usually surviving by luck as opposed to any magik skill they claim to possess. Included in the series are the following books (all of which, excepting the first, use the word "myth" as a "play" of the prefix "mis"- or of the word "miss"): Another Fine Myth, Myth Conceptions, Myth Directions, Hit or Myth, Myth-Inc. Persons, Little Myth Marker, M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link, Myth-Nomers and Im-Pervections (a play on the planet that the "Demon" is from, "Perv" which makes him a "Pervect"), Sweet Myth-tery of Life, Myth-ion Improbable, Something M.Y.T.H. Inc., Myth-Told Tales, Myth Alliances, Myth-Taken Identity, Class Dis-Mythed, Myth-Gotten Gains, Myth-Chief, and Myth-Fortunes. I thoroughly enjoyed this series, and laughed nearly every page at the word choices and wonderful puns.

Also by Robert Asprin is the Phule's Company series....(Phule-fool). The main character is Phule, or Willard J. Phule, the super-rich heir apparent of Phule Proof Munitions, currently serving in the Space Legion. His Legion name is Jester, and holds the rank of Captain, being addressed thus as Captain Jester, and occasionally and inappropriately as Captain Phule or Captain Clown. The setting of the book takes place centuries into the future, where humans and other species have come together to form the Interplanetary Alliance, a federation government of numerous planets. The Alliance's military includes not only the Space Legion, but also the Regular Army and Starfleet. The Space Legion is considered the lowest on the totem pole, and the laughingstock of the armed forces. Space Legion protocol has all persons using a pseudonym chosen upon enlistment, and commissions are purchased. It is a violation of Legion rules to release another Legion member's real name, but not to reveal one's own.
After being court-martialed for ordering the strafing of a peace conference, Captain Jester is shipped off to command the Omega Company, a dumping ground for the Legion's foul ups and misfits. Applying his business sense to the running of the unit, he soon turns it around, winning the almost fanatical loyalty of his troops and turning the "Omega Mob", as it is affectionately nicknamed, into a crack unit. This does not please General Blitzkrieg, who expected Phule to sink from sight. The general becomes the unit's main adversary. In each book, he contrives to send the unit on yet another 'impossible' assignment. They usually manage to come through unscathed. (Wikipedia) This series was also extremely funny, and entertained me with every installment. Included in the Phule's Co. series are the following: Phule's Company, Phule's Paradise, A Phule and His Money, Phule Me Twice, No Phule like an Old Phule, and Phule's Errand. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone older than fourteen or fifteen (anyone younger would not get most of the humour, as it is mostly plays on words and puns, not because of any foul or crude humour.) I would recommend the Phule series over the Myth series because Asprin became less exemplary as he continued to write.

Donita K. Paul

I have decided to begin with the book I am reading currently. (Well, if you really must know, I am reading six books at the moment, but this series is the one I have read from most recently [as in the last hour]) DragonLight is a Christian Fantasy Fiction written by Donita K. Paul, and the conclusion of the DragonKeeper chronicles, which includes the following: DragonSpell, DragonQuest, DragonKnight, and DragonFire.

I love Christian Fantasy! Although not all of the books included in this genre are allegorical, one can usually find the parallels to one's own Christian Walk. Usually included is a battle for good against ultimate evil, which is descriptive of some of our own battles and of the war against evil (Satan) that is continually being fought. Each of the books in this series are well written and exciting. I do not have to force myself to finish these books. Although I do not care for the author's propensity to "jump" over important periods in the lives of the characters, I do not feel that this interferes with her ability to write a "finished" book. I wish that Kale's and Bardon's relationship had been covered more completely, but as this is a Junior/young adult book, I can understand the reasoning behind this omission. I would recommend these books to both children and adults. Very good!

Beginnings

This blog will be an attempt to discipline myself to blog consistently and to continuously analyze the books that I read, whether fiction or non-fiction. I'm not quite certain how I will go about choosing my first entries, whether in order of favourites or by most recently read. I hope you will find my entries edifying and educational to your own reading habits:)



I also plan to blog about interesting and amusing circumstances that occur in my life. I usually find odd things quite funny, and sometimes I mock people's idiocies. This is not a reflection on the person, but on their imbecility (which I know that they usually cannot help). Perhaps you will find these things as amusing as I do, but as I am not writing for your benefit, it does not truly matter if you do :P