Patrick Todoroff's Blog, page 18

This image

It’s the promo poster for “In the Heart of the Sea”, the film about the whaleship Essex. (The basis for “Moby Dick”.)

I was awestruck first time I saw it. It captures not merely the tenor of its movie, but – for me – the essence of good spec-fiction writing; there is a sense underneath of larger things, moving. The story is merely the bits that break the surface, the indicators of some terrible, wonderful immensity.

To continue the analogy; every story is another throw of the harpoon and the desperate prayer my aim is true.

Merry Christmas

I post this poem every year because I believe it captures the essence of the incarnation and redemption offered in Jesus Christ. Christmas is about God’s gift of Himself to us, not just for religious spit-and-polish or pious moralizing mixed with creeds and rituals, but God coming to us at the very place of our need. In Jesus Christ is forgiveness of sins, transformation of heart, redemption at the very core of who and what we are. It’s a relationship with God forever. It’s eternal life.

Genuinely accepting God’s love means change – sometimes confusing, uncomfortable, inconvenient change – but most what is most remarkable is that it’s real And free. Jesus is alive and He loves you. Really.

Here’s the poem.

Let the Stable Still Astonish

Let the stable still astonish:

Straw- dirt floor, dull eyes, dusty flanks of donkeys, oxen;

Crumbling, crooked walls; No bed to carry that pain.

And then the child -

Rag-wrapped, laid to cry in a trough.

Who would have chosen this?

Who would have said:

“Yes, Let the God of all

the heavens and earth

be born here, in this place”?

Who but the same God who stands in the darker, fouler rooms of our hearts and says,

“Yes, Let the God of Heaven and Earth be born here – in this place.

May you come to trust in Jesus Christ as Redeemer. I pray God bless you all and keeps in health and peace in the new year. May God be real to you and in you, and express His Courage, Compassion, and Grace through you.

‘Sozo’ Release Notes

First off, thanks to everyone who takes a chance on my books, wanders by the blog, takes time to comment or review. Your interest is inspiring, your feedback invaluable. I can’t express my appreciation enough.

So here’s ‘Sozo’, one final title for 2014.

I’m encouraged by this short story. I had a sense of breakthrough when I finished, as if I’d I’d some how, some way, transitioned to a different place in my writing. Now this particular piece uses a rather dark palette, but I gave myself permission to write it the way it needed (wanted?) and feel I found the story’s voice. There’s a renewed sense of confidence as I look toward next year’s projects. (More on them below)

As long as I’m being honest, ‘Sozo’ might be one of those I recommend some folks not read. I’ve always maintained ‘a story is not a sermon’, but the distinction is quite severe with this one. Set in a fictional near-future America, it centers on a combat-scarred vet who returns to a nation in turmoil and finds himself caught up in a human trafficking ring. Definitely not typical evangelical family-friendly fare.

I make no claims to definitive theological, political, or psychological truths here; ‘Sozo’ is simply a story about a broken character in a ugly situation, about hard choices, and a facet of redemption. Edmund Burke’s famous quote on how evil triumphs rang in my mind every phase. The story unfolded steadily from the initial image to it’s climax.

‘Sozo’ will be available for Kindle and e-readers on Saturday, Dec. 27th. You can order it HERE.

Given the protagonist, I’ve decided to donate the proceeds from the first month’s sales to The Wounded Warrior Project. I don’t know how much that will be, but I can’t do nothing. By all means, skip the story if you want and donate directly. The men and women of our Armed Forces deserve our support.

Upcoming releases and writing projects include the next installment of The Clar1ty Wars, “Under Strange Stars”. I just received the files for the cover from Michal Oracz, and they look great, as usual. After that it’s the Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy “The Grim Fall”, as well as a novel set in mythical ancient China, working title “The Proud Cloud Racer.” On the Eshu International front, I have outlined several short story, back stories; Tam and Jace during the failed invasion of Taiwan, Poet9’s childhood in the slums of Mexico City, and the Triplets during the first African Civil War. I’m debating releasing them separately for .99, or including them in a single volume “Shift Tense”. Up in the air, that one.

Again, thank you all. May you have a peaceful and prosperous holiday and an inspired, productive new year.

Best Regards,

Patrick Todoroff

Thanks to the schoolyard bullies

I was a bit surprised when a fellow Christian author blogged about bullying recently. Not that he’d been bullied, no surprise there. It seems to me it’s one of those ubiquitous kid things like zits. And not that I’m making light of his experience. Far from it. I was hit by a car when I was a kid, damned near killed in fact, and grew up with no memory before the age of 7, a nasty limp and a damaged eye. Dealing with disability is the only life I’ve known, really. So I get being bullied, and all the condescending rubbish that goes with being ‘disabled’. The surprise comes because I always figured an unhappy childhood was a prerequisite for being a writer. (or a serial killer. fine line, there)

I mean what else jump starts a person’s defensive mechanism of escapism and fertilizes the imagination quite like being taunted, mocked, shunned, ignored? A nice layer of creative mulch, that festering rotten crap. And who else can lay it on quite as stinky and thick in those crucial formative years as the jocks, teacher’s pets, and cheerleaders?

Forward is the only direction God has given us though, and I’ve learned over the years it’s not what you can’t do that counts; it’s what you can do. So decades later not only am I still married to the same beautiful woman after 29 years, have three great kids and three wonderful grandchildren, but when I’m not doing stained glass work, I get to write stories. Stories that people buy and read. Some of these readers even enjoy my stories and come back for more.

So thank you, schoolyard bullies, for forcing me to take that ‘less-traveled’ path, for laying the groundwork to my spec-fiction projects. It’s working, thank God. And you know what the really beautiful thing is?

I don’t remember your names.

Have a great day.

Something for the bullied and the bullies

Coming Soon

A short story for those who fought the good fight and are still fighting.

If anyone would like an Advance e-Copy, leave a comment below.

Thanks.

TED TALK: Mac Barnett

Another TED Talk worth watching.

The Barrow Lover – Free for Kindle

Through Friday the 5th. Not exactly festive but Merry Christmas.

LINKY

“Read More Poetry”

“Then write more poetry.”

Was asked what advice I had for beginning writers and that leaped to mind. Say more with less. Don’t fret over being misunderstood.

It’s my advice to myself. The whip I flog myself/ my work with. It’s what I see my favorite writers doing. I’m not talking amount or style so much as traction and weight.

We’ve been trained to give book reports, to listen to and give lectures, instructions, directions. All great and necessary, but those aren’t stories. In my opinion, nothing will fend off Dramatic Essay Syndrome (or Dramatic Sermon Syndrome, in the case of faith-based fiction) faster than a heavy dose of Collins, Tennyson, Kunitz or Szymborska. (or Mali or Mojgani, if spoken word is your thing)

BTW – fell embarrassingly short of my NaNoWriMo goal.

“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”

Ray Bradbury

Market, Medium, and Motives.

I’m weary of discussions on Christian writing and writers. Wary too. I approach them like the Enterprise meeting an Klingon Peace Delegation: shields at full power. Seeing as I fall outside the norm of evangelical opinion on this matter, I’m braced for the inevitable salvos against my work, motives, and faith, along with the general blunt force trauma of religious weird-think. It’s all rather tedious and discouraging.

However, the movie Fury rekindled my interest in the debate. Rather it reinforced my opinion. Paid to see it on the big screen. In my view, the excellent script, pace, special effects and solid performances make it a worthy addition to the old-school war movies of my youth. I’ll own it on DVD – no question. (Three words: real Tiger tank)

That said, I think the film is also a prime example of credibly integrating faith (Christianity) into a plot. In my opinion, Shia Lebeouf’s character “Bible” comes off not merely the brave soldier and comrade, but a genuinely devout and human one as well. Bible’s faith is organic without being ham-fisted and contrived. By the time we reach the final scene in the turret, the 1 John 2 exchange is as relevant and natural as it is moving.

Let’s be frank though: Fury is not a “Christian” movie. On screen kilo-deaths, hints of off-screen sex, blood, mud and dialogue that red-lines the profanity-meter like soldiers do… we’re off the Christian Broadcasting programming list. It is however a good war movie that also has a devout Christian character and explicit Christian content. All the ingredients combine to make a fine genre film, but not a sermon. Which is my point here.

Loop back to the Christian writing/writers debate – I suspect much of the friction stems from poor judgment of Market, Medium, and Motives. Gratuitous violence, sex, profanity is just that – gratuitous – and inappropriate for the Christian market. I think it also makes a poor substitute for good wordsmithing. Explicit content – Christian or otherwise – may be necessary in the writer’s chosen genre or plot. A writer’s job is to show not tell and create a credible, consistent, engaging world in which the story unfolds. Those are the demands of the medium. To hobble any literary element in the name of religion is not only dishonest but dishonoring the vocation in the sight of God. “Work must be good work before it can call itself God’s work,” Dorothy Sayers noted. A pious hack is still a hack.

The judgment against a writer’s motives is the most tangled issue. As a stained glass artisan, is my work any less inspired, any less valid if I don’t incorporate the shape of a cross into every piece? Is my faith, my salvation, or even my testimony somehow diminished if I don’t? Same for my writing. If I don’t write what amounts to a dramatized sermon, complete with salvation doctrine, (choose your denominational flavor) alter call moments and a repentance prayer, is my work less “Christian”? If my non-Christian antagonists act and speak in non-Christian ways, am I guilty by association? In the minds of some, apparently yes.

In a religion-saturated, Christ-haunted culture, do artists and writers really need to be propping up the same old insular evangelical status quo? Seems a shameful play to cheap seats if you ask me. I rather believe we are tasked with being genuine artisans striving for mastery in our respective fields of labor, implicitly and explicitly expressing the reality of Jesus’ transcendence and redemption in our work, thus engaging our calling and audience in a spirit of honesty and excellence.

Dear God I hope so.

2nd Amendment stuff

What I find most disturbing in the debate is not the usual redefining of terms, the sloppy logic, or obfuscation of FBI and Police data, but the (not-so-subtle) implication gun owners are inherently more violent and a hair-trigger (yes, I did that) away from climbing to the top of the nearest water tower and engaging in pedestrian target practice. In my recent email exchange with Panera Bread over their anti-gun request/policy, I was told the presence of firearms upset the desired ideal of ‘Panera Warmth” in the cafe. Well sure, If I’m waving my Beretta Cx4 Storm around or firing in the air in a Jihadist-style celebratory manner. But as a licensed Class A concealed carry guy, it’s concealed. All the years I’ve been going there, never has anyone accused me of harshing their carbohydrate mellow.

(kudos to this Scott fella for tricking his out similar to mine)