Thomas W. Devine's Blog, page 33
January 8, 2013
A Pot-Pourri of Thoughts
Having taken a seasonal rest from blogging and writing (switching off to the world to some degree) I am, with a collection of thoughts going round in my head, back in action again.
Sexualization:
Actor, Liam Neeson believes society has been too sexualised and that the trend is ruining loving relationships (The Dominion Post 8.1.13). I support his belief. A whole generation or more in the Western World has been denied its innocence.
When I was a young man, photos of pin-up models in bikinis were considered to be akin to porn. A model might even be photographed topless on occasions but always with her arm (or something else) covering her nipples. That was as daring as it got in mainstream publications at the time. The mystery of what a woman looked like nude was still there for a man to discover, ideally after marriage or at least in a loving relationship.
For later generations, nudity (in photography and, later, video) became increasingly common and, as Neeson says, the more familiar “you get with something it moves from the sacred to almost the profane.” Private parts and sex aren’t private anymore.
It’s sad that younger generations don’t know what they’ve missed out on.
The Hobbit:
I’ve seen the movie twice and, in my opinion, it deserves being a box office hit. Of course, I’m biased by the spectacular New Zealand landscape of “Middle Earth” which is the movie backdrop in many scenes.
What does it say about American taste in movies that The Hobbit was toppled from first place at the US box office by a sequel to the 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre? (The Dominion Post 6.1.12)
My Stars:
My horoscope for the week (Kapi-Mana News 6.1.12), taken with a grain of salt, says there is part of me that is a great storyteller (nice words for a novelist to hear) but advises me that I “need to be able to draw the line between stretching the truth” and my “make-believe world”. I hope I’m doing that okay.
The Kapi-Mana News, in the same edition, kindly ran an item on publication of my fifth novel, “Island of Regrets”, in the USA.
Christmas:
Always a time for nostalgia about my own childhood and for memories of the financial struggle to make it a fun time for my children when they were young and of helping them now to make it a fun time for their children.
Thank God that some children are still innocent enough to believe in Santa.
If you weren’t allowed to, then you really missed out on a delightful part of growing up.
Sexualization:
Actor, Liam Neeson believes society has been too sexualised and that the trend is ruining loving relationships (The Dominion Post 8.1.13). I support his belief. A whole generation or more in the Western World has been denied its innocence.
When I was a young man, photos of pin-up models in bikinis were considered to be akin to porn. A model might even be photographed topless on occasions but always with her arm (or something else) covering her nipples. That was as daring as it got in mainstream publications at the time. The mystery of what a woman looked like nude was still there for a man to discover, ideally after marriage or at least in a loving relationship.
For later generations, nudity (in photography and, later, video) became increasingly common and, as Neeson says, the more familiar “you get with something it moves from the sacred to almost the profane.” Private parts and sex aren’t private anymore.
It’s sad that younger generations don’t know what they’ve missed out on.
The Hobbit:
I’ve seen the movie twice and, in my opinion, it deserves being a box office hit. Of course, I’m biased by the spectacular New Zealand landscape of “Middle Earth” which is the movie backdrop in many scenes.
What does it say about American taste in movies that The Hobbit was toppled from first place at the US box office by a sequel to the 1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre? (The Dominion Post 6.1.12)
My Stars:
My horoscope for the week (Kapi-Mana News 6.1.12), taken with a grain of salt, says there is part of me that is a great storyteller (nice words for a novelist to hear) but advises me that I “need to be able to draw the line between stretching the truth” and my “make-believe world”. I hope I’m doing that okay.
The Kapi-Mana News, in the same edition, kindly ran an item on publication of my fifth novel, “Island of Regrets”, in the USA.
Christmas:
Always a time for nostalgia about my own childhood and for memories of the financial struggle to make it a fun time for my children when they were young and of helping them now to make it a fun time for their children.
Thank God that some children are still innocent enough to believe in Santa.
If you weren’t allowed to, then you really missed out on a delightful part of growing up.
December 23, 2012
Neutral Abortion Literature
High marks to New Zealand’s Abortion Supervisory Committee for telling all licensed abortion facilities that written material handed out to women, or counselling services, are inappropriate if they promote or discourage terminations. Neutrality is called for, the Committee says.
It seems the Committee responded to complaints about abortion facilities fostering a USA publication, “Women Know”, which claims that “given certain circumstances, abortion is the most morally responsible and loving choice (a woman) can make”.
Now if I was an unborn child at risk of “termination”, and had the power to reason, I’d be pretty dubious about that assertion. Even if life turns out to be rough, surely it’s better than not having the opportunity to live?
I feel compassion for women who have real legal grounds for abortion, but please don’t say that termination is the more loving choice.
It seems the Committee responded to complaints about abortion facilities fostering a USA publication, “Women Know”, which claims that “given certain circumstances, abortion is the most morally responsible and loving choice (a woman) can make”.
Now if I was an unborn child at risk of “termination”, and had the power to reason, I’d be pretty dubious about that assertion. Even if life turns out to be rough, surely it’s better than not having the opportunity to live?
I feel compassion for women who have real legal grounds for abortion, but please don’t say that termination is the more loving choice.
December 17, 2012
Confessing Sins
The Catholic Church is lamenting the fall-off in attendance at the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) and calling for greater devotion to it by Catholics.
Maybe the sacrament had an important place in the early Church but one wonders at its relevance today.
There is no doubt, biblically, that Jesus Christ gave his faith-leaders the power to forgive, or refuse to forgive, sins. The ritual of Reconciliation for the individual, associated with that forgiveness, is however a product of the Church.
The sacrament involves the humility of the confessee admitting sins to a confessor, a priest likely to be little more than a stranger. There may be advice offered, and there is the promise of God’s forgiveness but only if there is true contrition.
So, the confessee can go through the ritual and still wonder if their sins are forgiven. Not that I’m offering a theologian’s opinion but, as I understand it, the confessee’s sins probably won’t have been forgiven if the confessee has even the slightest inkling of not accepting responsibility for their sin or (knowing in their heart that they’ll probably be weak again) insincere about their resolution not to sin again.
Now some Catholics might find the ritual very therapeutic and consoling but it seems the Church is recognising that the majority of Catholics don’t, in this day and age.
If the Church is really committed to forgiving sin why doesn’t it keep individual confession for those who want it on a voluntary basis and institute group reconciliation for the faithful (say by a simple blessing at Mass after the congregation’s recitation of the Our Father)?
Surely that would be a display of God’s love and willingness to forgive humankind’s trespasses. And wouldn’t that be ritual enough in His eyes?
Maybe the sacrament had an important place in the early Church but one wonders at its relevance today.
There is no doubt, biblically, that Jesus Christ gave his faith-leaders the power to forgive, or refuse to forgive, sins. The ritual of Reconciliation for the individual, associated with that forgiveness, is however a product of the Church.
The sacrament involves the humility of the confessee admitting sins to a confessor, a priest likely to be little more than a stranger. There may be advice offered, and there is the promise of God’s forgiveness but only if there is true contrition.
So, the confessee can go through the ritual and still wonder if their sins are forgiven. Not that I’m offering a theologian’s opinion but, as I understand it, the confessee’s sins probably won’t have been forgiven if the confessee has even the slightest inkling of not accepting responsibility for their sin or (knowing in their heart that they’ll probably be weak again) insincere about their resolution not to sin again.
Now some Catholics might find the ritual very therapeutic and consoling but it seems the Church is recognising that the majority of Catholics don’t, in this day and age.
If the Church is really committed to forgiving sin why doesn’t it keep individual confession for those who want it on a voluntary basis and institute group reconciliation for the faithful (say by a simple blessing at Mass after the congregation’s recitation of the Our Father)?
Surely that would be a display of God’s love and willingness to forgive humankind’s trespasses. And wouldn’t that be ritual enough in His eyes?
December 11, 2012
Throw Your Book Up a Tree
No disrespect, but some might say that launching your book by wrapping a copy in cloth and tying it with flax then throwing it in the sea is a bit of a gimmick to get attention, given how many books are published these days and compete for promotional advantage.
Such a launch event (reported in the NZ Catholic, December 2-15, 2012) was said to be following a Maori ritual – whakatere ki tai – a “launching at sea”, a “sending forth of the first fruit” of the author’s pen.
Fair enough.
Since my next novel (to be published in 2013) has a background of forest conservation maybe I should get myself photographed throwing a copy up in a tree.
It’s great how one author’s creativity can inspire another.
Such a launch event (reported in the NZ Catholic, December 2-15, 2012) was said to be following a Maori ritual – whakatere ki tai – a “launching at sea”, a “sending forth of the first fruit” of the author’s pen.
Fair enough.
Since my next novel (to be published in 2013) has a background of forest conservation maybe I should get myself photographed throwing a copy up in a tree.
It’s great how one author’s creativity can inspire another.
December 4, 2012
Intemperate Language
I think the abortion issue can be discussed reasonably by both sides without the use of intemperate language. Political activist and social critic, Naomi Wolf (The Dominion Post 4.12.12) has just come out swinging, saying that the pro-life position shows the “fanatic” behaviour of a “theocracy” that is “atavistic” and does not uphold “the scientific and rationalist ethos of enlightenment”.
I can't figure out why Wolf thinks a theocracy, has anything to do with the subject unless she is blaming priests.
I believe rationalism (reason, rather than religion) can be used as a guiding principle in support of both sides of the issue . I’m not convinced that Wolf is using pure reason in arguing that abortions are critical to the “universal right of women to reproductive health and freedom”.
The ethos of protecting life is timeless and as moral today as it ever was and is not atavistic.
Now, the real dilemma comes when the choice is between the life of the mother and the unborn child. Which has the right to live? Making that choice is a position I would never want to be in.
In the case of Savita Halappanavar, alledgedly denied an abortion in Ireland, the unborn child and mother did not survive. Wolf argues there was a clear-cut case to save the mother. If the second-hand facts she portrays are true, then I would concur with that aspect of her argument, tragic though the loss of a child would be.
According to The Guardian, the European Court of Human Rights has taken the mother’s side when her life is threatened by a pregnancy, - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/...
The second-hands facts Wolf used are however being put in doubt by more recent postings on the Internet.
I can't figure out why Wolf thinks a theocracy, has anything to do with the subject unless she is blaming priests.
I believe rationalism (reason, rather than religion) can be used as a guiding principle in support of both sides of the issue . I’m not convinced that Wolf is using pure reason in arguing that abortions are critical to the “universal right of women to reproductive health and freedom”.
The ethos of protecting life is timeless and as moral today as it ever was and is not atavistic.
Now, the real dilemma comes when the choice is between the life of the mother and the unborn child. Which has the right to live? Making that choice is a position I would never want to be in.
In the case of Savita Halappanavar, alledgedly denied an abortion in Ireland, the unborn child and mother did not survive. Wolf argues there was a clear-cut case to save the mother. If the second-hand facts she portrays are true, then I would concur with that aspect of her argument, tragic though the loss of a child would be.
According to The Guardian, the European Court of Human Rights has taken the mother’s side when her life is threatened by a pregnancy, - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/...
The second-hands facts Wolf used are however being put in doubt by more recent postings on the Internet.
November 25, 2012
Holiday & Novel Contest Results
The day after a holiday tends to pass by in a bit of a dream, doesn’t it? I’ve just returned from travelling around 1200 km at the top of New Zealand’s scenic South Island. It gave me the chance to catch up with my two sisters and, poignantly, visit with a dear niece who is in hospital and dying of cancer.
When I got back, I found an email with the judge’s report on my novel “A Halo of Strawberries”, entered in the 2012 Writers Digest Self Publishing Competition. I was awarded a score of 5 out of 5 for each of the following: structure, organization, plot, and character development – an improvement on my 2011 entry of “Relinquished”. The cover, by a designer, scored 4.
“Overall,” the judge said, “it was a very good book about an extremely polarizing subject, with lots of good twists and turns to keep you guessing ... and never seemed to stall at any time.”
You can see it at https://www.createspace.com/3705527
When I got back, I found an email with the judge’s report on my novel “A Halo of Strawberries”, entered in the 2012 Writers Digest Self Publishing Competition. I was awarded a score of 5 out of 5 for each of the following: structure, organization, plot, and character development – an improvement on my 2011 entry of “Relinquished”. The cover, by a designer, scored 4.
“Overall,” the judge said, “it was a very good book about an extremely polarizing subject, with lots of good twists and turns to keep you guessing ... and never seemed to stall at any time.”
You can see it at https://www.createspace.com/3705527
November 13, 2012
On Old Age & God
People come up with lots of positive things to say about old age. They all have degrees of truth. But, in the final analysis, it traps you in a decaying body that no longer does all the things you want it to.
That was how I felt on returning from a train trip into downtown Wellington, and a walk around, last Friday. The central city belongs to the young.
That same night I had a dream. I was in a Christian religion class. I was asked to put three words (independent of each other) on the whiteboard that would best describe God based on my new understanding from the class. After a few false starts I wrote up:
PERFECTION
LAW
LOVE
I was asked to explain but woke up.
Thinking about it, I would have said God’s perfection is to inspire us to do better.
God’s law (in the 10 Commandments and the New Testament) is to guide us in that aspiration.
God’s love is essential to our wellbeing.
Without knowing God loved me despite by frailities, I would find life unfulfilling.
That was how I felt on returning from a train trip into downtown Wellington, and a walk around, last Friday. The central city belongs to the young.
That same night I had a dream. I was in a Christian religion class. I was asked to put three words (independent of each other) on the whiteboard that would best describe God based on my new understanding from the class. After a few false starts I wrote up:
PERFECTION
LAW
LOVE
I was asked to explain but woke up.
Thinking about it, I would have said God’s perfection is to inspire us to do better.
God’s law (in the 10 Commandments and the New Testament) is to guide us in that aspiration.
God’s love is essential to our wellbeing.
Without knowing God loved me despite by frailities, I would find life unfulfilling.
November 7, 2012
Election Result – USA
As a foreigner living overseas I was simply a remote spectator to the presidential election in the United States. The race for the presidency is over and the Boston Marathon 2012 was never run. Romney put a brave face on his defeat.
I was vicariously in the Obama camp. Frankly, the thought of Romney as leader of the most powerful nation in the world made me anxious. But I only knew either man by how the Western news media portrayed them. That might have been a false impression. It seemed to me that Obama did not live up to all the expectations he created when he began his presidency and Romney was too much of a loose cannon to be trusted with making good decisions over international affairs.
Obama’s victory speech struck me as inspirational for the American people (written by spin doctors no doubt) but heartfelt. I hope he was being honest and that he can work effectively towards the sort of America he envisioned. I wish America well in that respect.
Let us not forget, however, that Obama’s land of opportunity for everyone does not extend to unborn children who are aborted under laws he condones.
I was vicariously in the Obama camp. Frankly, the thought of Romney as leader of the most powerful nation in the world made me anxious. But I only knew either man by how the Western news media portrayed them. That might have been a false impression. It seemed to me that Obama did not live up to all the expectations he created when he began his presidency and Romney was too much of a loose cannon to be trusted with making good decisions over international affairs.
Obama’s victory speech struck me as inspirational for the American people (written by spin doctors no doubt) but heartfelt. I hope he was being honest and that he can work effectively towards the sort of America he envisioned. I wish America well in that respect.
Let us not forget, however, that Obama’s land of opportunity for everyone does not extend to unborn children who are aborted under laws he condones.
October 31, 2012
Busy Author
I’ve been busy promoting my fifth novel, “Island of Regrets” (https://www.createspace.com/3952232 ). Its blurb says: “Stolen diamonds are missing; a fortune is at stake and evidence concealed for more than a hundred years points to a location on a lonely mist shrouded dot of land in the Southern Ocean. Unravelling a puzzle leads four treasure hunters on a search that could become homicidal.”
That dot of land is Sub Antarctic Campbell Island which I visited in 1985. The island is still a series of clear pictures in my mind. One thing I remember as if it happened yesterday, is the ship’s departure. A few members of the weather station staff accompanied the GMV Wairua out into Perseverance Harbour in a rowboat. One member stood in it playing a mournful tune on the bagpipes. It was like being on a misty loch in highlands of Scotland – not that I’ve been there, so it was just an impression.
I’m also busy putting the finishing touches to my next novel, “Green Expectations”. I wrote it back in 1999 and have just picked it up again. In the story, environmentalists and developers go head to head over the future of Mathews Bush, a fictional area of native forest. The personal stakes are high.
I hope to publish it next year.
That dot of land is Sub Antarctic Campbell Island which I visited in 1985. The island is still a series of clear pictures in my mind. One thing I remember as if it happened yesterday, is the ship’s departure. A few members of the weather station staff accompanied the GMV Wairua out into Perseverance Harbour in a rowboat. One member stood in it playing a mournful tune on the bagpipes. It was like being on a misty loch in highlands of Scotland – not that I’ve been there, so it was just an impression.
I’m also busy putting the finishing touches to my next novel, “Green Expectations”. I wrote it back in 1999 and have just picked it up again. In the story, environmentalists and developers go head to head over the future of Mathews Bush, a fictional area of native forest. The personal stakes are high.
I hope to publish it next year.
October 22, 2012
Fifth Novel Now Out
New Zealand author, Thomas W Devine has recently published his fifth novel in the USA.
Three hundred and twenty pages long, “Island of Regrets” is set on Campbell Island in the Sub Antarctic and in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington.
A novel of suspense, it tells the story of missing diamonds stolen in South Africa, discovery of a clue to their possible whereabouts, and of a search for them on an uninhabited, mist-shrouded dot of land in the Southern Ocean.
Tom Devine said he was inspired to write the story by early events that took place on Campbell Island. “It blends fiction with historical fact,” he says. In 1985 he visited the manned weather station that used to operate on Campbell.
The island is New Zealand territory, a nature reserve and part of the Sub Antarctic Islands World Heritage Site. The island is under the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Department of Conservation.
Tom Devine’s affinity with Campbell Island developed from his former employment over many years in the administration of protected natural and historic areas.
The novel’s editor, Andrew Killick, describes “Island of Regrets” as: “An exciting read with a taut plot and believable and colourful characters”. New Zealand authors, Norman Bilbrough and Tim Jones, believe the book’s readers will be “kept guessing” and will want to read right to the end to “discover the outcome”.
Tim Jones sums up the plot as follows:
“Campbell Island’s troubled history weaves into a present-day thriller. Long-lost loot, a small group of people with mixed motives and an island that has dashed many dreams are a combination that is bound to lead to trouble and in Island of Regrets trouble duly arrives”.
Available from www.amazon.com and other outlets.
_________
For publication details see: https://www.createspace.com/3952232
Website: www.thomaswdevine.com
Three hundred and twenty pages long, “Island of Regrets” is set on Campbell Island in the Sub Antarctic and in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington.
A novel of suspense, it tells the story of missing diamonds stolen in South Africa, discovery of a clue to their possible whereabouts, and of a search for them on an uninhabited, mist-shrouded dot of land in the Southern Ocean.
Tom Devine said he was inspired to write the story by early events that took place on Campbell Island. “It blends fiction with historical fact,” he says. In 1985 he visited the manned weather station that used to operate on Campbell.
The island is New Zealand territory, a nature reserve and part of the Sub Antarctic Islands World Heritage Site. The island is under the jurisdiction of the New Zealand Department of Conservation.
Tom Devine’s affinity with Campbell Island developed from his former employment over many years in the administration of protected natural and historic areas.
The novel’s editor, Andrew Killick, describes “Island of Regrets” as: “An exciting read with a taut plot and believable and colourful characters”. New Zealand authors, Norman Bilbrough and Tim Jones, believe the book’s readers will be “kept guessing” and will want to read right to the end to “discover the outcome”.
Tim Jones sums up the plot as follows:
“Campbell Island’s troubled history weaves into a present-day thriller. Long-lost loot, a small group of people with mixed motives and an island that has dashed many dreams are a combination that is bound to lead to trouble and in Island of Regrets trouble duly arrives”.
Available from www.amazon.com and other outlets.
_________
For publication details see: https://www.createspace.com/3952232
Website: www.thomaswdevine.com
