Browse: Page 20
By J. Timothy King on March 1, 2011
A simple shepherd girl discovers her wild mage powers after a murderous magician destroys her family. Now every mage in the world wants to train her. But Faia wants only to confront the madman who killed her loved ones.
I was going to read something other than another Holly Lisle book, but I’m enjoying this one too much. Besides, it was too conveniently located on my ebook reader. Last year, I did manage to acquire a printed copy of Fire in the Mist. But I had also downloaded an electronic version from the Baen Free Library.
(And as you may know, I agree completely with Eric Flint regarding the rationale for giving away these ebooks. Please support the project and Holly, and download this classic Holly Lisle fantasy novel for your own ebook reader.) Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays: Fire in the Mist”
Posted in Books, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged Fire in the Mist, Holly Lisle |
By J. Timothy King on February 28, 2011
Photo © 2008 Irina Slutsky CC BY 2.0
This past weekend, Rabbi Rich Nichol made a particular point that struck me, in the context of family and parenting. He said, “Memorize in the morning.” That is, when their kids were young, he and his wife Sue made it a family tradition to spend a few minutes each morning memorizing passages from the Scriptures.
And I thought that was a cool idea. My kids are a little older, and I’m not sure whether they’re interested in memorizing bible stories. But I for one have been wrestling with memorization, of Hebrew vocabulary and grammar. Continue reading “Memorize in the Morning”
Posted in Family, Judaism, Religion | Tagged Hebrew, memorization
By J. Timothy King on February 11, 2011
Photo © 2010 David Adams CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
This is so not fun.
This morning, when I checked my outdoor digital thermometer, the sight buoyed my spirits. I honestly thought it said 68°F. After all, yesterday the temperature hit 50. Why shouldn’t it get even warmer today? Somehow, first thing in the morning, that made sense. In my morning stupor, I had missed the decimal point, otherwise clearly visible between the tenths digit and the ones digit.
I am so not a morning person.
Last week, I swear I heard Phil promise us an early Spring. I’m convinced he did so to make up for the way the Steelers played on Sunday. But, O Phil, if Spring is to arrive early this year, why does the sun yet rise so late in the morning? Why does the chill yet inflict my toes with frostbite? How come I still have to scrape an inch of frost off the car every damn morning?
I am so not a morning person. Continue reading “O, Phil, How Thou Dost Deceive Me!”
Posted in Humor | Tagged diet, Groundhog Day, weather, Winter |
By J. Timothy King on February 4, 2011
Once upon a time, I couldn’t see the point of these new-fangled gadget cell phones that can text-message, play MP3’s, take pictures, and sometimes can just barely not even make a phone call. (You know what I’m talking about.)
Today, however, I copied all the files from my cell phone onto my computer, and I found numerous photos that I and my kids had taken, some of which are kinda cool, and others of which bring back memories. Most of us don’t carry a camera around, but we do carry our cell phones around. So when a photo-op presents itself, good thing we have some way to capture the moment.
(By the way, my cell phone takes pictures no better than any other cell phone, of much lower quality than the camera my brother’s uses to take his pro-quality photos. Most of the shots on there stunk. But some of them I was able to salvage, and the images you see here have been enhanced and processed to look half-decent.)
Start with this cute shot I took, across the parking lot from my favorite Starbucks. When I saw these two storefronts, side by side, the only thing I could think was, I wonder if they’re in business together.
(You can click on the photo for a higher-resolution image.) Continue reading “Some Photos I Found on My Cell Phone”
Posted in Family, Humor | Tagged car, holiday, nostalgia, Old Herb, photos, summer |
By J. Timothy King on February 2, 2011
I’m snowed in this Groundhog Day, as is apparently most of the nation. Sitting here, with the family, watching Groundhog Day, a most ironic movie for this particular Groundhog Day blizzard.
Fortunately, this morning, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, and we will have an early spring. Yay! Because I am now officially tired of winter. Continue reading “Happy Groundhog Day!”
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged Groundhog Day, spirituality |
By J. Timothy King on February 1, 2011
Hawkspar almost never made it to print.
The drama started in September 2006, when Holly Lisle’s editor told her that the manuscript was too long. It weighed in at a hefty 190,000 words. So either 55,000 words needed to be cut, which would gut the story, thereby ruining it; or else it would have to be published as two volumes, which would split the story down the middle, thereby ruining it. Then the editor left, and the new editor asked Holly how many galleys she wanted. Joy of all joys; the book was going to press, whole and intact. Except that it wasn’t, not even close.
The old editor, before she disappeared, had gutted the manuscript with a chainsaw, leaving it a reeking mess. So Holly was left back where she started.
But barreling through an emotional exhaustion that probably would have sent me into a depressed resignation to fate, Holly went to bat for Hawkspar. And delay after delay, it did eventually come out, whole and intact. (Comically edited, too, but that’s a different story.) Now that I’m almost finished with the novel, I just want to say: Thank you so much, Holly. This story was certainly worth the battle. I don’t know, as you once said, whether it’s the best story you’ve ever told. I still think it might be second-best, next to Talyn. But you can’t read one without the other, anyhow.
UPDATE: I take that back, about Hawkspar being second-best. Having now finished the last few chapters of Hawkspar, it’s on par with Talyn. They run neck-and-neck, because of the best ending ever. Had me in tears. Incredible.
After reading these two, and mourning that the third book, Redbird, will probably never be written, I have only one comment left:
I so wanna be Tonk! Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays: Hawkspar (again)”
Posted in Books, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged Hawkspar, Holly Lisle |
By J. Timothy King on January 25, 2011
Photo © 2008 Albert Bredenhann CC 2.0 BY NC SA
I read something today that made me want to pull my hair out. As you may know, I’ve been looking forward to Holly Lisle’s upcoming fiction journal Rebel Tales, because I love Holly’s work, and I’m expecting Rebel Tales to reflect what she values in a good story.
Today, John Dye, the Rebel Tales SF editor, announced his first season’s theme and editorial requirements. On the subject of the latter, he writes:
I believe that the magazine, especially early on, must attract a majority readership before it can begin catering to niche groups… To me, this is simple nickels and dimes.
×וי (Or for you non-Hebrew readers, “Oy!”)
Upon reading this, I retched a little, and I swear I tasted something funny in my mouth. Continue reading “I Was Looking Forward to Holly Lisle’s Rebel Tales, But…”
Posted in Books | Tagged Holly Lisle, Rebel Tales, Talyn |
By J. Timothy King on January 17, 2011
Photo © 2009 mtsofan CC 2.0 BY NC SA
Note: This post is an extended version of the comments I made at church a couple weeks ago.
Many of us have heard of the “peace that transcends all understanding,” from one of the most famous snippets of the New Testament: “and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds…” (Philippians 4:7)
But I don’t know that we have a realistic conception of what that “peace” is. It’s not “peace and quiet,” as we often think in English. Not an inner calm, well not directly, anyhow. It can overlap with “peace and quiet,” because if you’re at peace, you’re not in turmoil. But most of the time in the Bible, when you read “peace,” it usually refers to something slightly different than “peace and quiet.” Continue reading “Peace from the Ashes”
Posted in Christianity, Judaism, Religion | Tagged ×©×™× ×©×œ×•×, Amidah, Hebrew, peace, prayer, Sim Shalom
By J. Timothy King on January 14, 2011
Photo © 2010 Smithsonian's National Zoo CC 2.0 BY NC ND
Over the past two days, I’ve been (a) digging out from under more than a foot of snow and (b) taxiing everyone around in the Corolla (because the Saturn is still stuck in more than a foot of snow).
The Little One has had three days off from school, and my Firstborn is perhaps weighing the advantages had she stayed in the government-run high-school, instead of switching to a school that prioritizes learning stuff. Of course, the Little One will have to pay for her 6-day weekend at the end of the year. Immediate gratification has its price. C’est la vie.
In any case, I haven’t had time to write a proper Friday Fun post, so today I’ll have to rip off– er, I mean, link to, others’ material.
Rats! (And New Year’s Resolutions)
First up, a humorous cartoon by comedian Jason Love, all about animal testing of those New Year’s resolutions you may already have decided to give up on. Continue reading “Rats, Naked, and a Fast Car”
Posted in Humor | Tagged Boyce Avenue, cartoon, comic, Fast Car, Jason Love, Kina Grannis, Laura Weldon, Tracy Chapman, video
Abusive Comments Will Be Summarily Deleted
By J. Timothy King on January 27, 2011
Photo generated at says-it.com
In the past, I’ve defended a wide-open policy regarding blog comments. I’ve always let anyone post any on-topic comment they wanted. So, I’ve filtered out spam; but any vagrant who wanted to throw in his two cents, no matter what they were actually worth, I’d leave his comments up there, along with the constructive and supportive comments from regular visitors.
The reason for this policy is my belief in free speech. I believe that the best antidote to bad speech is more speech. On my political blog (if I ever revive that project), I will keep that wide-open policy, because that blog is about debate. Similarly, BeTheStory.com is about writing and being a writer, and what makes a “better” writer is a matter of opinion. So I will keep the same policy there as well. If you think my views on Twilight are narrow-minded and wrong-headed, you are free to say so. Just be aware that you will be wrong.
However, as I’ve reached out to new sources of blog visitors, this blog has collected several severe and useless comments, and I’ve rethought that comment policy, at least as pertains to this blog. Continue reading “Abusive Comments Will Be Summarily Deleted”
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged blog, comments, moderation, policy, Robert Sapolsky | 2 Responses