Off the Bookshelf: WAVES OF CREATIVITY, by Allen Arnold

 

Allen Arnold strikes again, with a book of inspirational quotations, either his own thoughts or scripture references, having to do with the creative mind and soul, the creative journey, and spiritual growth.

Everything essentially leads back to the core principle of his teaching, which is that our best creating is always done WITH God. 

Sounds kind of simple, huh? Not really. It's a conscious, constant process of growth, of checking the compass, of looking around and getting back on track, and keeping the enemy from knocking us off course. We get distracted by things that shouldn't matter, unless they lead back to God. Things like success and popularity. Our measure of success needs to change to fit God's idea of success -- which certainly isn't what the world thinks it is.

While it might sound wonderfully spiritually to be working FOR God, that's what he calls the orphan mindset. We need to be working in partnership WITH God, in His power, seeing with His eyes, for whatever we do to really matter and make sense and mean something.

You should see my copy -- it's bristling with little page flags marking quotes and thoughts I need to go back to and read again and think over. It's partially color coded alphabetically, but that's not much help when there are more than 100 of them ... fortunately there's an index of topics, to help you find inspirational thoughts on whatever your current struggle is.

Like his other books, you're going to want to read it again and again. Thanks, much!

New Release: ETRUSCA'S VOW. AFV Defender Book 3

 The restaurant Thyal took her to specialized in packaged food for Academy students to take with them and eat on the run between classes. It sat on a rise in the rolling landscape of the Academy grounds, with a half-moon-shaped paved courtyard on one side, full of two- and four-seater tables. The L-shaped building was open on the inner side, displaying the many shelves full of packaged food and drinks, and a bank of heating units and eating utensils on the side that opened into the eating courtyard.

Four young men in the dark gray uniforms of Fleet cadets stepped into the serving line just ahead of Thyal and M’kar. One turned around and nodded greeting to Thyal, who nodded back. Then his gaze drifted down to M’kar. He nodded to her, started to turn away, then frowned and looked back. M’kar got a prickle of warning down her back.

  

M’kar met the cadet’s gaze and tried to put on that neutral expression her father insisted was far more frightening than a glare or frown or baring her teeth. He stared at the sharp dip where her eyebrows met between her eyes. She had laughed when her father joked about disguising themselves by shaving that little bit of their eyebrows, but now M’kar felt sick. It was such a small thing, this telltale, so why did she hate the way his gaze seemed to snag on her face like that?

“Don’t tell me you’re courting already,” the cadet said, turning back to Thyal.

M’kar muffled a snort of laughter at the wide-eyed look Thyal gave the cadet, then her, then him again. He shook his head. “M’kar is a guest in my parents’ home.”

New Release: ETRUSCA'S VOW. AFV Defender Book 3

 "Grandfather?" The tension in her father’s voice seemed to lift M'kar off the bench.

"He says we have to leave. He says not to trust anyone but the Ankuar," she hurried to tell him.

"Does he now?"

"Take the little one to safety, boy," Aquid said as he struggled to his feet. "She's worth more than the entire clan combined. This one is going to fix things. She's going to remove the poison from the craters. You are leaving, aren't you? It's not just an old man's daydreams? I dreamed this one right, for once?"

"Yes, Grandfather." Ashrock held out his hand and M'kar ran to him. He took tight hold of her hand.

"Good boy. Always knew you were the smartest one out of them all." He nodded and tottered out of the room, muttering, "Good boy," several times, until he moved out of earshot. 

Ashrock slowly went to the door and closed it, then sat down on the same bench Aquid had used. He had M'kar repeat back for him everything the old man had said. Her father never told her if he talked to the one-eyed man or the woman with the ahsnaq, but she shivered when she glimpsed the pilot of the shuttle they took early in the morning, two decs and eight days later, as the last of the winter storms sputtered out. He was a typical Ankuar, with white hair and cocoa-dark skin, and silvery-blue eyes.

Off the Bookshelf: INTERVIEW WITH THE ROBOT, by Lee Bacon

 

Audio drama from Audible

Voices: Kevin T. Collins, Ellen Archer, Josh Hurley, Eileen Stevens, Eric Mallon, Jonathan Davis, Stephen Bel Davies

Eve is a 12-year-old picked up for shoplifting in New York. When a child welfare worker is called in to interview her and start the process of deciding what to do with  her, a strange story unfolds.

She is actually a robot, an artificial intelligence, on the run from her creator. Her life is told in flashbacks as Ms. Amis interviews her, as Eve grows from a simple cube with no ability to speak, to an aware being with a sense of humor -- and fear, when she learns the devastating secret behind her creation.

Thought-provoking and chilling in some ways. Well-done dramatization. Can we hope for further adventures of Eve and Emory?

New Release: ETRUSCA'S VOW. AFV Defender Book 3

 His gaze focused on M'kar again and the humor faded slowly, like water draining from a basin. "You need to flee, Little Blade. To a kinder place. Where you will make many strong, brave, clever friends. You will need them when you come back. To anchor you." His voice took on that hollow tone that made her shiver. "A good place where you don't need honor scars. Always more and more honor scars, until you're erased, buried under them. Come back when you don't want to. Make sure the boostifaks don't get what they want. Make sure you do get what you want. When you come back, the surbda craters will be safe hiding places. Understand? The safest places on the planet. Even though they need to be taken apart once and for all. Hear me?"

"Yes," she whispered, and nodded hard, when he gripped her shoulder with a bony hand and looked deeper into her eyes.

"Safe for you. Maybe you'll see Etrusca. But remember this, child. You can only go in and out safely a few times. After that, you leave pieces of yourself behind. You'll get eaten. Bit by bit." The intensity shattered off his face, and he was only a frail, crackle-voiced old man again. "But who knows? Maybe you're the one who can fix the broken pieces. Pull the rotted tooth before the whole body is poisoned." His fingers tightened on her shoulder again. "This is important. Take the broken pieces away. Off the planet. Where their power won't pull at us and keep trying to shred us. Promise me, Little Blade."

"I promise."

"Good." His eyes filled with tears and he shuddered and exhaled, then gulped in air like he had tried to run a race up the highest tower steps. "Etrusca's marks protect you." A snort escaped him, turning into a snicker. "Old Anguak would have a brain-spark, if he got a look at you. Proud of you," he added, as the door swung open and Ashrock walked in.

New Release: ETRUSCA'S VOW. AFV Defender Book 3

 "You need to leave as soon as possible," Aquid said, his voice normal again. "You went to Etrusca's Wall." He patted the bench next to him. "Tell me about it. Did you see Etrusca? Is that why you wear her mark now?"

"Did I see Etrusca?" She settled on the bench. He smelled of tongue-stinging fire sweets, rather than the medicine-and-paper-skin smell of most old people. "Is she supposed to be there?"

"I don't know if she's supposed to be there." He chuckled and winked. "But I've seen her. Many times. I've talked to her. Contradictory woman won't tell me if she's dead or alive." Another chuckle. "Don't tell Yntriell, but I asked her to marry me a few times."

M'kar nodded. Yntriell wasn't her great-grandmother, but she was Aquid's third wife.

"Every time I asked, she laughed at me." He chuckled again. "She was right to laugh. Don't have the gift of being eternal, like she does." He sighed. "That was a long time ago." 

Off the Bookshelf: STORY GENIUS, by Lisa Cron

 

The subtitle and sub-subtitle say a lot about the value and usefulness of this book:

How To Use Brain Science To Go Beyond Outlining And Write A Riveting Novel.

(Before you waste three years writing 327 pages that go nowhere)

My craft book club at Great Lakes Fiction Writers had the fascinating, educational and fun experience of being able to talk with Lisa via Zoom, when we got together to discuss this book. Wow. So much common sense and moments of "Well, yeah, how come I didn't figure that out before?"

Basically, when you know your characters, what they believe and misbelieve, the forces that shaped them, the choices they've made in their past, in many ways the story kind of writes itself. Yeah, that's the simplified version. Or to rephrase that: most of the story is back story, because the past strongly affects the present of the character's story.

There's too much valuable information in the book, too many exercises you need to do for yourself, too many examples to be condensed into this book review. Go buy the book and read it for yourself -- don't borrow it -- you want it on your shelf to reread and go back to for reference again and again.

Thanks for giving us some of your time and talking with us, Lisa. Very much appreciated.