Hard Magic by Larry Correia

Hard Magic by Larry Correia

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jake Sullivan is a war hero, a private eye — and an ex-con. He’s free because he has a magical talent that the Feds need to apprehend criminals with their own magical abilities. ... Jake finds that not only have the Feds been lying to him, but there is a secret war being waged by opposing forces of magic-users. Worse still, he had attracted the attention of one side’s ruthless leaders — who are of the opinion that Jake is far too dangerous to be permitted to live.

This looked like something of a Harry Dresden copycat and I'm also rather tired of novels that insert magic into our world to create an alternate history. Then Jeff Miller gave it five stars and I had to rethink my position. My Audible monthly credit became available and I saw Bronson Pinchot narrates it ... and I was lost. No one narrates like he does.

All descriptions I've seen don't describe my favorite character, Faye, a teenage Okie whose irregular upbringing combines a good Catholic upbringing with puckish unpredictability. The Catholic element is quite light but Faye's story is equal in interest and weight to Jake's.

I was fascinated by the book's complexity, especially as compared to the first Harry Dresden or Joe Ledger novels. This one doesn't spoon feed you but gets the story rolling while providing information for you to pick up on the interesting magical attributes which some people have, how they can be used, and how this affects the struggle between good and evil. The story also examines the origins of the magic which suddenly began appearing in people in the late 1800s. This provides an unexpected story layer which I found interesting and welcome. Certainly it is a part of what made me interested in the trilogy beyond the first book.

In the midst of the action-packed finale, I suddenly saw all the pieces fit into place, just as the author intended. I was also interested to have some of the characters gain a depth I didn't expect which switched my perspective, all in aid of the puzzle pieces fitting neatly. That was nicely done by author Larry Correia.

Hard Magic is more of a guilty pleasure than anything else but it is a roller coaster ride I'm happy I took.

I'm about as smart as Jake Sullivan but, like everyone else, not nearly as clever as Faye (who is a character to fall in love with, especially as narrated here). I can see I'm going to have to read the next book in the series. Dammit. Because I didn't want another trilogy to invest my time in. But I'll be spending an Audible credit on the next book.

Note: I'd have given it another star but the long battle in the middle of the book really slowed things down and made my interest sag.

In which we sample some hors d'oeuvres from a tasty platter of American food writing.

Something tasty for your weekend listening from Forgotten Classics, a sampler of pieces from American Food Writing, edited by Molly O'Neill.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful ...

The view from our front yard

As I mentioned in yesterday's ratting story, we have gone from the 80s to below freezing in two days.

It is beautiful as you can see from the photo Tom snapped this morning.

To watch the news you'd think we had 6 feet of snow or something. The newscasters gravely say, "Now to Bob out in Plano, where a carport collapsed."

Then Bob shows us the collapsed carport on top of the car inside.

Oh the humanity!

It does shut the city down because we just aren't prepared for this sort of weather ... unlike when I moved here 30 years ago and it was very common. But the crazy way the news shows it makes it seem worse.

To be fair, I'm doing everything with the expectation that the power will go out at any time because the lines are covered with ice and we've been hearing transformers blow occasionally. So in my own way, I'm just as "emergency" oriented.

Kaylee, of ratting story fame, feels it is much too cold for a little lady to venture outside as we discovered when we looked behind the couch this morning. (She did have the decorum to hide the evidence. She's not a savage, people.)

Mountain men that we are, we closed the dog door and went outside in robes and slippers to encourage the dogs to romp playfully. And, as we hoped, nature took its course. Good girl!

Tom's going to work but I'm staying home and baking some Christmas cookies for the freezer! YAY!

10 Books That Have Stayed With You Meme

This began on Facebook, but I know of no reason why we shouldn't bring it into the blogging world which is where all the really good booktalk happens. (Ok, Goodreads excepted, but that is where I have made many good book talkin' pals.)

I knew this would come my way as soon as I saw Jeff Miller did it. Turns out Will Duquette laid it on me. Turns out the first two books on his list are the first I thought of also. Here goes ...

Rules: list 10 books that have stayed with you. Don't take more than a few minutes; don't think too hard. They don't have to be great works, just the ones that have touched you. Here's mine, in no particular order :

1. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
3. The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold
4. Death Comes as the End - Agatha Christie
5. The Franchise Affair - Josephine Tey
6. Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens
7. Only You Can Save Mankind - Terry Pratchett
8. While We Still Live - Helen MacInnes
9. The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom
10. One Door Away From Heaven - Dean Koontz

I'm supposed to tag 10 people and I did tag a few on Facebook, but I'm just going to leave it up to whoever wants to join in, whether blogging, on Facebook, or just in the comments box here.

It's Lovely Ratting Weather Outside

Yesterday it was in the 80s.

This morning it was in the 30s and falling.

Normal weather jumps for this time of year in North Texas.

Tom came back where I was reading while feeding the dogs. As usual Kaylee bolted her portion while Wash leisurely munched while taking occasional looks out the window.

I said, "Hey, we forgot to leave the dog door open last night."

"Did Kaylee go out this morning?" he asked.

"Right after breakfast and then she bolted back in, all frisky."

"Ahhh." And he grinned.

I looked at Kaylee, standing there near me. I didn't have my glasses on but she was looking at Tom, wagging her tail, and she seemed to have ... were those branches poking out of her mouth? Dear Lord, those were feet. And there was a tail draping luxuriously past them.

"A rat!"

"That's right," Tom said in soothing, cheerful tones. "And Kaylee's going out, aren't you girl? C'mon out!"

She'd dashed to the bathroom to show him which is quite sweet, actually. She loves Tom as her Alpha while still battling a general fear of men from her rescue dog days.

In a feat of calm I probably couldn't have matched, he coaxed her out and closed the dog door. He then got her to drop the rat. She, understandably, was loathe to leave her treasure out there for anyone to grab when her back was turned. She'd shown us her rats and squirrels before only to have them scooped up. This was staying firmly in her mouth.

Eventually, though, she relaxed. And Tom gave her a nice second breakfast as a reward. Hobbits aren't the only ones who love second breakfasts.

He then went out with the shovel, confirming her worst suspicions that he'd just wanted that tasty morsel for himself.

Notes on Mark: The Millstone

MARK 9:41-42
Think of just how small the kindness is that Jesus is talking about here. And if you want to know how seriously he takes leading people astray, just see what Barclay has to say about the size of that millstone!

Any kindness shown, any help given, to the people of Christ will not lose its reward. The reason for helping is that the person in need belongs to Jesus. Every man in need has a claim upon us because he is dear to Christ. Had Jesus still been here in the flesh he would have helped that man in the most practical way and the duty of help has devolved on us. It is to be noted how simple the help is. The gift is a cup of cold water. We are not asked to do great things for others, things beyond our power. We are asked to give the simple things that any man can give...

But the converse is also true. To help is to win the eternal reward. To cause a weaker brother to stumble is to win the eternal punishment. The passage is deliberately stern. The mill-stone that is mentioned is a great millstone. There were two kinds of mills in Palestine. There was the hand-mill that the women used in the house. And there was the mill whose stone was so great that it took an ass to turn it.

The mill-stone here is literally an ass's mill-stone. To be cast into the sea with that attached was certainly to have no hope of return. This was in fact a punishment and a means of execution both in Rome and Palestine...

The Gospel of Mark
(The Daily Bible Series, rev. ed.)

Well Said: Catholic Readers

From my quote journal.

Catholic readers are forever being scandalized by novels that they don't have the fundamental equipment to read in the first place, and often these are worlds that are permeated with a Christian spirit. It is when an individual's faith is weak, not when it is strong, that he will be afraid of an honest fictional representation of life.
Flannery O'Connor

Needless to say, I completely agree. Not that I myself am always strong enough or fully equipped to understand the sorts of novels of which she speaks. Heck, they don't even have to be that hard for some people to quail. Look at the fuss over the Harry Potter series. But I try. Not being afraid is the key. And that's a start.

Notes on Mark: He That is Not Against Us is For Us

MARK 9:38-40
Isn't that so often the way? If someone isn't doing something just the way that we would then it isn't right, not valid, has to be changed or stopped. I wish I could say that I was immune to this but I'm probably one of the worst about wanting things done "just so" in accordance with my ideas of perfection. Here, Jesus reminds us that our way is not the only way.

Our Lord warns the Apostles, and through them all Christians, against exclusivism in the apostolate -- the notion that "good is not good unless I am the one who does it." We must assimilate this teaching of Christ's: good is good, even if it is not I who do it.

Navarre Bible: St. Mark

Noah - the movie

You know, it's been a good long time since I've seen an old school Bible movie. This looks as if it might just fill the bill. Crossing my fingers for this one!

Advent

Interior Of The Mezquita Cathedral Virgin Mary Icon

Everybody knows, even those of us who have lived most unadventurously, what it is to plod on for miles, it seems, eagerly straining your eyes toward the lights that, somehow, mean home. How difficult it is, when you are doing that to judge distances! In pitch darkness, it might be a couple of miles to your destination, it might be a few hundred yards. So it was, I think, with the Hebrew prophets, as they looked forward to the redemption of their people. They could not have told you, within a hundred years, within five hundred years, when it was the deliverance would come. They only knew that, some time, the stock of David would burgeon anew; some time, a key would be found to fit the door of their prison house; some time, the light that only shows, now, like a will-o'-the-wisp on the horizon would broaden out, at last into the perfect day.

This attitude of expectation is one which the Church wants to encourage in us, her children, permanently. She sees it as an essential part of our Christian drill that we should still be looking forward; getting on for two thousand years, now, since the first Christmas Day came and went, and we must still be looking forward. So she encourages us, during advent, t take the shepherd-folk for our guides, and imagine ourselves traveling with them at dead of night, straining our eyes towards that chink of light which streams out, we know, from the cave at Bethlehem.

R.A. Knox, Sermon on Advent 1947
quoted in In Conversation with God, Vol. 1, Francis Fernandez

With Advent the liturgical year begins in the Western churches. Before Christmas we spend time in contemplation and preparation for the coming of Christ on three levels: as memorial of his incarnation as the babe in Bethlehem, to his coming with grace in our souls, and in looking forward to when he comes as the Judge at the end of time.

Those who celebrate Advent do so with various private devotions during this time. Some read a specific book to think about, some go to regular adoration, some try to avoid excessive focus on Christmas preparations, and such things.

Me? I'm trying to figure it out. And maybe that's ok too ... just to have a mindfulness of the season and to be listening more and thinking more ... and praying more ... as we look and wait and try to figure it out.

Advent Litany

I was looking over my old Advent posts. You know, in 9 years you can come up with a lot of Advent series that you want to rerun every year. It's kind of like seeing your grandparents' Christmas tree. So chock a block full of ornaments from over the years that you can hardly see the green of the tree itself.

My apologies in advance, therefore, as this blog will be loaded up with Advent from here to there and back again. This is your warning ... or the promise of good things to come ... depending on your mindset.

To launch us off, here's a goodie I found from way back in 2007. How have I forgotten it for that long? No matter. Let's dust it off and see ... hey! ... it's just as good, if not better, than when it was put in the attic.

It is the advent of Advent. Very soon we will begin that waiting period of reflection and pause before being plunged into Christmas. In that spirit I thought that this was a nice litany to have on hand. As well as just a good set of meditations for prayer.

Advent Litany

Lord Jesus, you are the light of the world.
Come, Lord Jesus.

You are light in our darkness.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Son of God, save us from our sins.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Son of Mary, deepen our love.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bring hope into the lives of all people.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Give your peace to all nations.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Be the joy of all who love you.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bring unity among all who believe in you.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Bless us as we gather here in your name.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Lord Jesus, stay with us always.
Come, Lord Jesus.

Let us pray:

May Christ give us his peace and joy,
and let us share them with others.
All peace and glory are his for ever.

Amen.

Worth a Thousand Words: Aerial Arts at the Margarita Ball

Hannah performing on silks at the Margarita Ball

You wouldn't think this was her hobby, would you? She looks like a professional aerialist ... a dangerous, spike-haired professional.

I understand the Moxie Mischief gang was a big hit and we are very happy for them and very proud of Hannah.

The Twits, The Minpins & The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

The Twits, The Minpins & The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Although I have enjoyed many of the movies made from Roald Dahl's books (most notably James and the Giant Peach) I cannot recall reading any of his books except Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was ... fine but not world changing for me. That's kind of odd too, when I think about it, because I was the right age to be the prime audience when a lot of his books were coming out but I was largely oblivious to them. (Yep. Dated myself. Don't care.)

However, as I have learned in the past, audio often breaks open a book or author who I didn't find congenial in print. It was that way with Coraline by Neil Gaiman. It was that way with the last half of The Lord of the Rings (yes, I am ashamed but I will not lie). And, now, it is that way with Roald Dahl.

The Twits are the most horrible couple in the world and quite hateful to each other, until they are under attack from a common enemy. Even then they are horrible which makes it quite gratifying to see them get their comeuppance from the Muggle-Wump monkey family and the Roly Poly bird. This story had the most disgusting description of a beard I have ever encountered. Even while I was grimacing, I was also laughing because Dahl had such a clever way with words. Narrator Richard Ayoade had a lovely, calm British narration style that didn't preclude hilarious, low-class voices for the Twits. First class stuff.

The Minpins has the most perfect monster name I've ever heard -- The Gruncher, a fire-breathing, boy eating creature in Sin Forest. It sends Billy right up a tree where he meets the Minpins and they form an ingenious alliance to deal with their common foe. Bill Bailey narrated this with a great deal of gusto which didn't detract in the least from the story.

The Magic Finger was my favorite story, partially because Kate Winslet's narration won me over from the very beginning. I also just couldn't resist the little girl who "puts my Magic Finger" on those who displease her. The Greggs are worthy of a magic finger punishment because they are such keen hunters. What the Magic Finger does is typical Dahl ingenuity at its best.

These are little stories but each is a gem which children would love. Heck, I liked them quite a bit myself and, as I have revealed, I am far past the age of tender youth. I am now going to look for more Roald Dahl in audio, possibly even revisiting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I got this Roald Dahl sampler courtesy of SFFaudio where this review aired first.

Well Said: The Land That Is Us

From my quote journal, via The Spirit of Food. It seems appropriate since Thanksgiving is coming and that's largely about the feast. And about thankfulness, of course, which is about a proper sense of perspective.

When asked what we do for a living I always hesitate; there's no grand title and I can read their eyes. Farming requires no specialized degree, no impressive wages for menial labor, the primitive work of any civilization. We're farmers. We just grow food. We just raise pigs. It doesn't get more rudimentary.

The children read it aloud once from their history text, how the most denigrated class of people in ancient Egypt was the swine herders. They'd looked at each other, at their dad and me, we pig farmers.

I had held the book in my hand, smoothed the page out flat, and the words had come slowly, like bent backs rising, but they had come and we all stood taller because of them. How can growing nourishment for temples where Christ dwells be dirty base work? If it isn't fish at the end of a fork, it ultimately came from dirt, from the bowed back of a farmer. And this dirt tilling, isn't it engaging in Genesis work, stewarding and cultivating his creation? Some say there are only two kinds of people who brush very God. The priest in the sacraments. The farmer in the soil. We've known it, standing at the end of a field, the wagons filling with yield: working earth touches God. Working humus feeds humanity. We are dust farming dust, preparing food for men planting food, living this circular dance: from dirt, through dirt, until the return to the dirt; for from him and through him and to him, all things. Need we be ashamed?

The children had all nodded.

Ann Voskamp, The Land That Is Us

These Beautiful Bones review

I laid the book out, read it partially while doing so, and have been pushing it on people. Have I read it through myself? Not yet ... I will, I will but this is my busy time of year.

BUT Sarah Reinhard read it ... here's her review of These Beautiful Bones, a book that opens up Theology of the Body to everyone.

To think I complained because Pope Francis never wrote anything.

And I know I'm not the only one.

His 288-page exhortation feels like an "Oh yeah? Take that!" ... in a good way! Looking forward to reading this!

(UPDATE: ok, I swear I saw a huge page number on this thing, but the pdf is 83 pages ... thank goodness. Which is still pretty good "in your face" numbers for the non-writing complaints. I stand corrected, Your Holiness.)

Talking About Frankenstein ...

... the book by Mary Shelly, not the movies. Although I will say that Young Frankenstein got its fair share of mentions throughout the conversation. The conversation is at SFFaudio where Jesse, Scott, Bryan Alexander. and I discussed the book.

Well Said: Preaching Purity Instead of Abstinence

From my quote journal.

We err when we preach abstinence to lads and lasses, rather than purity, the full-blooded virtue that honors the beauty of the body by preserving its cleanliness, its youth, for the marriage and the children to which its sexuality is ordained, if God so wills. No one can sing an anthem to a negative: it is like the glory of a flower. It radiates youth and health and a wise innocence; while impurity is old and enfeebled and "knowing" and ignorant.

Anthony Esolen in Magnificat magazine

Sweet Potato Casserole With Pecan Crumble

My latest favorite in the sweet potato category for Thanksgiving. Get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Notes on Mark: True Ambition

MARK 9:32-35
I never stopped to analyze why the disciples fell silent when Jesus asked what they had been arguing about ... I didn't have to. I always knew it was because they were ashamed without thinking about it. As any of us would feel when caught in such a moment. It takes looking at things through Jesus' eyes sometimes to see things clearly.

When he asked them what they had been arguing about they had nothing to say. It was the silence of shame. They had no defense. It is strange how a thing takes its proper place and acquires its true character when it is set in the eyes of Jesus. So long as they thought that Jesus was not listening and that Jesus had not seen, the argument about who should be greatest seemed fair enough, but when that argument had to be stated in the presence of Jesus it was seen in all its unworthiness...

Jesus took this very seriously. It says that he sat down and called the Twelve to him. When a Rabbi was teaching as a Rabbi, as a master teaches his scholars and disciples, when he was really making a pronouncement, he sat to teach. Jesus deliberately took up the position of a Rabbi teaching his pupils before he spoke. And then he told them that if they sought for greatness in his Kingdom they must find it, not by being first but by being last, not by being masters but by being servants of all. It was not that Jesus abolished ambition. Rather he recreated and sublimated ambition. For the ambition to rule, he substituted the ambition to serve. For the ambition to have things done for us he substituted the ambition to do things for others.

The Gospel of Mark
(The Daily Bible Series, rev. ed.)