Category: Fiction

I finished Tim Powers’ new book, Three Days To Never, and I really liked it!

The story centers on a mild mannered English teacher (patterned after Tim himself) and his young daughter. The year is 1987, and the New Age "Harmonic Convergence" of that year is underway. The New Agers come in for a good bit of ribbing from various characters in the novel but–unbeknownst to anybody, including the New Agers themselves–the event causes a slight disruption of world affairs in a hidden, unseen way.

While that’s happening in the background, the English teacher and his daughter are trying to make sense out of a family tragedy: The teacher’s creepy grandmother has just died, leaving him a creepy and mysterious message about what she did and what can be found in the "Kaleidoscope shed" out back of her house.

Y’know, the kind of shed where you carve your initials into the wooden wall and then later they aren’t there?

When they enter the shed, the teacher and his daughter find that the grandmother used the shed to hold TV, a VCR, a video cassette of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and a plaster block with the hand and footprints of Charlie Chaplin, which she stole from in front of Hollywood’s Chinese Theater. What do they have in common? What was she using them for? Why does the teacher’s long-lost father show up after so many years? How does Albert Einstein fit into all this? Why is the Israeli intelligence service–the Mossad–so interested in what’s happening? How about the rival group that used to have ties to Hitler? Or the blind assassin? And what about all those babies lying in the snow, waving their arms and legs for a few seconds before they mysteriously vanish?

To find out the answers to these questions, you’ll have to

GET THE BOOK!

(Incidentally, you’ll note that I’ve linked to a page in my new store, where you can buy other of Tim’s books, as well as other fine quality works.)

I found that the book was a very quick and enjoyable read for me. The plot proceeds at a swift pace, and there are nice elements of humor and irony as we proceed to keep a sense of whimsy in what is, essentially, a supernatural spy thriller.

Once I got past some of the major plot point (which I won’t spoil here), I found the book contained a very powerful statement about free will. I found myself liking and appreciating the characters, even the ones who weren’t on the right side (some of them, anyway), and about at least some points in the novel, I found myself contemplating, "Just how much of this goes on in real life?"

So: This book is enthusiastically recommended! Don’t miss it!

Now a few notes:

1) For those who have already read it, please keep the spoilers to a minimum in the combox. We don’t want to give away any of the big surprises (none of which I’ve touched) and spoil people’s fun.

2) Content advisory: Infrequent occurrence of a few cuss words and
one scene where a woman thinks back about her sexual history, but no
on-screen activity.

3) Stay tuned, because later this week I’ll be running an interview that Tim Powers graciously consented to give exclusively to the readers of JA.O!

4) Since I’m putting this up on Labor Day, it’ll be my only post for the day. Order the book and then go have fun!

Back in November 2004 there was a lot of talk about the division of the U.S. into clear zones of "red" and "blue" states leading to secession. The talk was tongue-in-cheek, of course, but it was occurring in significantly different social circles.

We talked about that on the blog here, here, and here.

The last of those is a link to a post I did about some folks at the SF (Speculative Fiction) Readers Forum who were talking about the idea of blue state secession–who also linked our discussion here on the blog–and darn if they didn’t go and do something about it.

Mind you, they didn’t start a secessionist movement (as far as I know), but being speculative fiction enthusiasts, they went and wrote a book of short stories exploring the possibility.

Since we’d linked them before, the editor sent me a review copy, and I just got it in the mail.

I’ll let y’all know what I think once I’ve had a chance to read a few of the stories. I’m guessing that they’ll tend to have a more bluestate perspective on things in the main, but that won’t (or shouldn’t) prevent them from being well-written, interesting stories. (If it does, I’ll let y’all know.)

In the meantime,

CHECK
IT OUT.

I’m reading Tim Powers’ new novel, Three Days to Never.

This is his first new novel in five years, the previous one being Declare (2001), so its release is an occasion among Tim Powers fans.

Whereas Declare was heavily Catholic themed, this one is more Jewish-themed and involves a secret history spy story involving time travel and ghosts and dybbuks.

So far, I’m enjoying it very much. Powersis his usual, hyperinventive self, and I’ll offer my comments after I’ve had a chance to finish it.

In the meantime, you can

READ A REVIEW OF IT BY JOHN SHIRLEY.

Here’s a taste:

Tim Powers is his own genre. There are a few other novelists who write urban fantasy — de Lint and Gaiman, perhaps one or two others who attempt to bind physics and metaphysics, the spy novel with the novel of the fantastic, but none who move us with such proficiency, such deceptive ease from the gritty to the transcendent; who so excel at making us feel we too, if we follow directions, can travel effortlessly from three dimensions, to four, to five.

Currently there are two editions of the book in print. One, an ordinary hardback

IS AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.

There is also a special edition (pictured above) that has cool illustrations and that comes with a chapbook of sonnets written by one of the characters in the novel.

IT’S AVAILABLE HERE.

Enjoy!

EXCERPTS:

Meet Kathleen McGowan, novelist and self-proclaimed descendant of a union between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. McGowan, who says she is from the "sacred bloodline" Brown made famous in his mega-selling novel [The Da Vinci Code].

[A]mong believers are her powerful literary agent and the editors at New York publisher Simon & Schuster, who are throwing their weight behind her autobiographical religious thriller The Expected One, out July 25, with a sizable first printing of 250,000 copies.

"Everyone’s going to think I’m on The Da Vinci Code bandwagon, but I’m not," says McGowan, who began working on her book in 1989. The Da Vinci Code was published in 2003.

McGowan originally self-published her novel last year and it sold only 2,500 copies.

Simon & Schuster is spending $275,000 to promote The Expected One and is sending the author on a cross-country tour beginning Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.

Trish Todd, editor in chief at Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster . . . says she has no problem believing McGowan’s claim that she descends from a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. "Yes, I believe her. Her passion and her mission are so strong, how can she not be?"

The Expected One is the story of Maureen Paschal, a woman who begins to have visions of Mary Magdalene, discovers she is a descendant of Mary and Jesus and undergoes a dramatic search for a gospel written by Mary that is hidden in southwestern France. In a parallel plot, McGowan tells what she says is the actual story of the marriage and children of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

The title of the book, she explains, is taken from an ancient prophecy that tells of a woman chosen by divine providence to bring the real story of Mary Magdalene’s life to the world.

McGowan calls this a novel but says it mirrors her own life. Maureen’s visions, she says, are "verbatim" accounts of her own visions of Mary Magdalene. "Maureen is a fictional character," she says, "but there is a lot of me in Maureen. I know it will be hard for people to accept this, but it’s true."

Though McGowan says she is descended from Jesus and Mary Magdalene, she won’t say whether she, like the fictional Maureen, is "The Expected One."

"I’m not grandiose about this, and it concerns me a lot that I could be portrayed that way," McGowan says. "I don’t want it to appear that I’m standing up and saying I’m the expected one. That’s a dangerous, ego-driven kind of thing."

So far, McGowan is offering only her word about her lineage and only hints at her proof. In addition to the visions, she says, she has discovered that her family is related to an ancient French lineage that traces its roots to Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s descendants. Legend holds that Mary Magdalene settled in France after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. "That’s all I’m prepared to say right now," McGowan says. Some members of her family, she explains, want her to respect their privacy and not discuss it.

Despite the lack of hard evidence, McGowan’s supporters include her literary agent Larry Kirshbaum, who left his position as CEO of Time Warner Books in December to start his own literary agency. McGowan was one of his first clients and he helped her get a seven-figure, three-book deal with Simon & Schuster. (Her next two books pick up where The Expected One leaves off.)

And USA Today has proven itself perfectly willing to prostitute itself in order to promote this trash, giving the subject voluminous amounts of space meant to promote the book, including an excerpt of the novel itself.

GET THE STORY.

AND THE EXCERPT.

AND A REVIEW.

Here we go again, folks!

Incidentally, McGowan gets further into her novel than Dan Brown did before she makes a literary blunder. The very first word of the first sentence of The Da Vinci Code was a dud. McGowan made it through at least six words before her first sentence started to go off the tracks.

OH, AND HERE ARE KATHLEEN MCGOWAN’S REVIEWS OF OTHERS FOLKS’ BOOKS ON AMAZON. INTERESTING READING MATERIAL SHE’S INTO.

AND HERE’S HER HOMEPAGE.

Last week I did sometihng I haven’t done in around 20 years–I went to an actual science fiction convention. (More on that later.)

Scott of SFFAudio reminded me of something that I learned at the convention: There is a publishing house that offers ordinary HTML texts of many of the books it sci-fi books it publishes for download–either free or, in some cases, for a subscription fee.

The publisher is Baen, and it’s part of an interesting marketing philosophy that they’re trying out (i.e., letting people read some for free will prime their appetite to also purchase material, so you’ll end up making money).

Ordinary HTML files are great for me (as opposed to the formats many eBooks are published in) because I can easily turn them into audio books using my TextAloud program.

So I’m definitely going to be visiting their site.

CHECK IT OUT.

A reader writes:

Hello, Mr. Akin –

My name is Scott, and I just noticed on your most recent post that you use
your iPod for audiobooks.  Though I’m sure you listen to a wide variety of
stuff, I know you have an interest in science fiction, so I’d like to point
you to my site, SFFaudio, which features news, reviews, and commentary on
the world of science fiction and fantasy audio.

I’m Catholic, and enjoy your site very much.  My co-editor/website partner
is not a religious believer.

SFFaudio can be found at www.sffaudio.com.  I hope it’s of use to you.

God bless, fellow audiobook fan,
Scott

PS – I’m currently listening to "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell from
Brilliance.  I’m about 1/8 of the way in… it’s interesting that much of
the science fiction that treats religion in a respectful way (rare enough,
indeed) features a Jesuit.  So far, the novel is quite good.

Cool!

Having a site that coordinates sci-fi, etc., audio is a great idea. I looked it over, and there’s a lot of useful resources there.

CHECK IT OUT.

Y’know that Erich von Daniken book Chariots of the Gods that was such a phenomenon back in the 1970s, what with its claim that ancient astronauts visited the earth and left behind various ancient mysteries along with legends turning them into ancient deities?

Boy, that book is annoying.

I mean, I’m sorry, but Ezekiel just did not see a flying saucer.

And the Nazca lines are just not alien landing strips (though NASCAR race tracks might be).

Well, as annoying as his book are (and they’ve inspired even more annoying imitators, like Zecharia Sitchin–as well as cool things, like Stargate SG-1), von Daniken wasn’t the first person to have the idea of deities "really" being aliens.

Others had that before him.

H.P. Lovecraft, for example.

And, it turns out,

THERE’S A DIRECT CHAIN LINKING LOVECRAFT’S WORKS WITH VON DANIKEN’S.
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed!)

The comments he made regarding John Paul II weren’t the only things that Stephen Hawking had to say recently.

ACCORDING TO THIS STORY,

he stated a number of other interesting things, such as humans needing to start establishing offworld colonies that can function independently from earth if we want to survive long term.

That project might take awhile–longer than most of us will be around–but Hawking also mentioned a much shorter-term project he’s involved in:

Hawking said he’s teaming up with his daughter to write a children’s book about the universe, aimed at the same age range as the Harry Potter books.

"It is a story for children, which explains the wonders of the universe," his daughter, Lucy, added.

They didn’t provide other details. 

I just wanted to thank everyone who participated in the discussion of "Through and Through" for the JimmyAkin.Org Literary Club.

I also want to thank Tim Powers once again for granting permission for the story to be reprinted on the blog.

Though I labelled the meeting #1 in case I do it in the future, I wasn’t sure about whether there would be future meetings, but after seeing the level of interest that was displayed in continuing the venture, I’ll see what I can do about securing reprint rights to other stories that the group might be interested in.

These may not all have Catholic themes. I don’t know that there are enough obtainable stories out there that are Catholic themed–certainly not as much so as "Through and Through." Some future offerings may simply be stories that I find entertaining or interesting. We’ll have to see.

Also, as one perceptive person noted in the combox, I likely don’t have time to deal with unsolicited manuscripts, so the stories that get considered will tend to be already-published things (some published long enough ago to be public domain) that I run across and think might be worthwhile for the group.

I also wouldn’t want to commit to doing this "regularly," since that would put pressure on me to come up with stories on a particular schedule, and that pressure would tend to lower the quality of the stories offered for discussion. I’d rather keep the quality of the stories higher (according to my own, subjective determination) and have meetings on an irregular basis–just as pleasant surprises that show up as part of the mix.

So thanks once again to one and all for making the first meeting of the JA.OLC a success!

[NOTE: A lot of folks in other countries see the site at unsual hours, and I didn’t want this week’s special event to get buried under other posts and be less visible over the weekend, so I moved the two relevant posts to the top. This should also make it easier for folks who want to participate but who couldn’t read the story during work hours. For an explanation of what we’re doing see here.–ja]

Through and Through

by Tim Powers

ALREADY when he walked in through the side door, there were new people sitting here and there, separately in the Saturday afternoon dimness. The air was cool, and smelled of floor-wax.

He almost peered at the shadowed faces, irrationally hoping one might be hers, come back these seven days later to try for a different result; but most of the faces were lowered, and of course she wouldn’t be here. Two days ago, maybe—today, and ever after, no.

The funeral would be next week sometime, probably Monday. No complications about burial in consecrated soil anymore, thank God . . . or thank human mercy.

His shoes knocked echoingly on the glossy linoleum as he walked across the nave, pausing to bow toward the altar. In the old days he would have genuflected, and it would have been spontaneous; in recenter years the bow had become perfunctory, dutiful—today it was a twitch of self-distaste.

There were fewer people than he had first thought, he noted as he walked past the side altar and started down the wall aisle toward the confessional door, passing under the high, wooden Stations of the Cross and the awkwardly lettered banners of the Renew Committee. Maybe only three, all women; and a couple of little girls.

They never wanted to line up against the wall—a discreet couple of yards away from the door—until he actually entered the church; and then if there were six or so of them they’d be frowning at each other as they got up out of the pews and belatedly formed the line. silently but obviously disagreeing about the order in which they’d originally entered the church.

Last week there had been five, counting her. And afterward he had walked back up to the front of the church and stepped up onto the altar level and gone into the sacristy to put on the vestments for 5:30 Mass. Had he been worrying about what she had said? What sins you shall retain, they are retained. Probably he had been worrying about it.

As he opened the confessional door now, he nodded to the old woman who was first in line. The others appeared to be trying to hide behind her—he could see only a drape of skirt and a couple of shoes behind her. He didn’t recognize the old woman.

He stepped into the little room and pulled the door closed behind him. They wouldn’t begin to come in until he turned on the red light over the door, and he needed a drink.

Continue reading “Through And Through”