C. David Belt's Blog, page 18
June 8, 2016
Another Advance Review for “The Sweet Sister”
Michael Young, author of The Hunger, The Last Archangel, The Canticle Kingdom
May 30, 2016
May 16, 2016
“The Sweet Sister” has found a home!
We do the Dance of Joy!
May 6, 2016
Lullaby
Reposting in honor of Mothers Day
A mother cradles her newborn in her arms and sings the babe a lullaby—a beautiful, iconic image of maternal love. We think of a lullaby as a quiet song meant to lull and soothe a child to sleep, but the word may have a much darker, and conversely, profoundly beautiful origin.
A common theory for the etymology or origin of the word “lullaby” is that it is derived from the Hebrew Lilla abi or Lilith abi, which means literally, “Lilith, go away!” In Jewish tradition, Lilith was the mother of all vampires. It was believed that Lilith or one of her children would come unseen while a newborn was sleeping and kiss the child and steal him or her away. A female infant was vulnerable until she was fourteen days old. A male infant was vulnerable until he was circumcised at eight days old. So a mother would sing…
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May 4, 2016
Channeling the Villain
One of the more interesting parts of my job as a horror novelist is getting into the minds of my villains. In my books, I have never written from the villain’s point of view, at least not as yet. I always write about the villain as witnessed by another character (a good, heroic, or at least sympathetic character). However, I recently finished a character interview where Lilith was interviewed, rather than myself. Now, I have written a trilogy of novels where Lilith plays a role. In “The Unwilling,” she is part of the backstory, but makes no appearance. In “The Penitent,” she was behind the scenes for most of the novel and makes only a brief appearance. In “The Prophecy,” she is the primary villain.
And she is evil to the core. Not only is she evil, she has had six thousand years to perfect and refine her unique brand of wickedness. In other words, she is very good at being evil. Now I despise corny, campy villains. All great villains should have strong and believable motivations, even if those motivations are only hinted at. As a reader, you (hopefully) don’t agree with the villain, but you should at least understand him or her (eventually). You should understand what drives her, what lust, desire, tragedy, fear, or pain causes her to act as she does. And perhaps, on some level, deep in the darkest, most wounded part of your soul, you may even sympathize with her. A little.
Writing about Lilith, or featuring her in a scene written from some other character’s POV, was… well, it was many things—it was difficult, fun (at times), fascinating, gut-wrenching, and heart-stomping. But writing as Lilith for this character interview was… disturbing.
I get it—all my characters come from my own head. At some level, they are all part of me. And to channel Lilith, I had to dig into lust and desire and, most of all, fear. Some of that probably did not come across in the interview itself, as it may not come across in the novels, but it needs to be in the back of my mind. No, that’s not quite right. It needs to be in my heart. I need to feel what the villain feels. I need to think as the villain thinks. I need to find the villain in myself. Otherwise, the villain isn’t real to me and won’t feel real to the reader. Most of what the villain thinks and feels is subtext, hidden in bits of dialogue, in choices of words, in the twitch of a lip, the lift of an eyebrow, or the licking of a fang.
When I’m done writing the scene (or interview), sometimes I shudder and feel the need to take a long shower or to go find my dear wife and hug her as if we had been apart for eons.
Or pray.
After all, none of us are invulnerable. If we think we are immune to temptation, safe from the darkness, wise in our own eyes, then we are truly fools. I have seen great and righteous men and women succumb to the darkness and fall.
I’m certainly not invulnerable. There are chinks in my armor, and Satan knows exactly how to exploit them.
But Jesus is always there, waiting for me, picking me up when I stumble, and encouraging me to fight on. He knows I’m trying, and when my efforts are insufficient, I know His grace is sufficient.
From my favorite hymn:
Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be.
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it.
Seal it for Thy courts above!
April 15, 2016
Another Advance Review of “The Sweet Sister”
The Sweet Sister by C. David Belt is proof Horror is not a genre only for those who enjoy a terror-induced adrenaline rush. C. David Belt’s voice, multi-character POV, abundance of pop culture, and intriguing prose drew me in from the first paragraph and continued to hook me until the last page. True to its genre, some areas are frightening, but the balance of the character’s unique faith makes this a fun and inspirational read.
Loury Trader
April 14, 2016
Al-Jazeera America, RIP
Last night, Al-Jazeera America went off the air. I actually have mixed feelings about this.
I can honestly say that I never spent a single second watching Al-Jazeera America, although I did see one of their commercials on another network. I was well aware of the coverage and editorial bias and the source-funding of Al-Jazeera, and felt no need to waste my viewing time with them. And apparently, I’m not alone. (That’s why they went off the air.) I don’t watch Russia Today either. Or MSNBC. And I haven’t watched CNN in years, although I have heard that this particular media outlet has of late experienced sporadic moments of honest journalism, and I might just watch it again someday (most likely in an airport while waiting for a flight). And for the record, I don’t watch Fox News, except for the occasional internet video clip.
No, I don’t watch these channels, however, I fully support the right of these media outlets to say whatever they please, so long as they are not inciting violence or the overthrow of the United States of America. Criticize America or our values? Go for it. Criticize me and my values? Take your best shot. In this country, you have that right. I fully support that. In fact, I have laid my life on the line over and over again to defend that right.
So Al-Jazeera America is gone. It wasn’t silenced by the government. It wasn’t banned by capitalist cable operators. It wasn’t shouted down by protesters. It wasn’t shut down by violence. It wasn’t blown up by terrorists. It went away, quite simply, because very few people in the USA bought into its message. And when it became painfully obvious that nobody would pay to advertise on a network that nobody watched, even the oil-rich, pro-Islamist government of Qatar couldn’t afford to keep it on the air. This is exactly what happened to Al-Jazeera America’s predecessor: Al Gore’s Current TV. Almost nobody watched it, so advertisers went away. And thus, even Al Gore with all his millions (earned by flying around the world in a carbon-spewing private jet to preach the impeding Global Warming zombie apocalypse) couldn’t keep it on the air.
That’s freedom. That’s capitalism.
So am I celebrating Al-Jazeera America’s demise? No.
Wil I mourn its passing? No.
Will I miss it? Not in the slightest.
AJA, RIP.
Let freedom ring.
April 5, 2016
First Advance Review of “The Sweet Sister”
I am probably not in C. David Belt’s target audience. I don’t read much in the horror-fantasy genre, and I’ve never been to ComiCon. I don’t even dress up for Halloween. But I do love a great story. And The Sweet Sister is a great story. It is one of those can’t-put-it-down page-turners that keeps you up late. What’s more, it dares to be a clear-cut story about the battle between Good and Evil, devoid of the moral hand-wringing that characterizes so much post-modern storytelling.
Belt casts his heroes and heroines, not in the mold of Tolkien’s epic figures, but as utterly relatable every-men. There is nothing special about them except that they want to do the right thing. They succeed using their own modest talents, despite their mortal foibles and self-doubt.
Whether or not you are a fan of the emerging “LDS Fantasy-Horror” genre, if you are looking for a good read with a satisfying conclusion, The Sweet Sister is a can’t-miss choice.
Devin Asay
April 4, 2016
March 20, 2016
I Need My Critics
When I first was accepted into the Temple Square Chorale and the Choir School of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir nine years ago, very early on during my training, one of our instructors played the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s latest (at the time) CD during class. To my untrained ear, the Choir sounded beautiful, glorious. However, the instructor proceeded to pick apart the song, pointing out all the places where the Choir was less than it should have been. I was astonished, to be perfectly honest. What? You mean the greatest choir in the world, “America’s Choir,” “the Lord’s Choir” was less than perfect?
Nine years later, I can answer that question with resounding YES. We are always striving to improve. And our greatest critic is Mack Wilberg. Why? Because he loves us and wants us to be better.
I have never been a fan of American Idol. However, my family used to watch it faithfully (years ago). They would watch the auditions while I worked or wrote on my laptop. Most of those auditions were bad. Actually, most of them were spectacularly bad. And after a terrible audition, the rejected contestant would sometimes stomp out the door in tears, swearing a bleeped blue streak, only to be greeted by family members (often a mother) who would say, “Those judges don’t know what they’re talking about. You’re great! You’re a star! Someday, you’ll show ’em. They’ll be sorry.”
And when I saw that, I would say, “Wow. That mom really doesn’t love her kid.” Because, as I said, the audition was awful. Perhaps the singer could improve with training, perhaps not, but telling them they did well when they didn’t doesn’t help them improve. No-one every progressed by listening to sycophants. Some of these rejected singers had talent, but if they did, they also desperately needed someone who loved them to tell them they needed to improve. Simon Cowell didn’t love them, but then again, that wasn’t his job. His job was to find someone who was ready to be exploited… er, HELPED along the way to stardom.
I have my fans. My fans are great. My fans are cool. I am very grateful for my fans. However, I also need critics. I’m not perfect. I’m not the greatest horror writer to have ever walked the face of the planet. I’m not Steven King. Actually, even Steven King isn’t “Steven King.” He’s not as good as he thinks he is. To tell the truth, in my not so humble opinion, Steven King peaked decades ago and has been in steady, sometimes precipitous decline ever since.
I belong to the LDS Beta Readers facebook group. I am very blessed to be a member of this group. We swap manuscripts and chapters and provide constructive and very frank criticism to one another. Every member has their strengths and weaknesses. We each need to build on our strengths and improve on areas where we fall short. Without this criticism, we can never grow.
Jesus loves me. (This I know, ’cause the Bible…) Jesus wants me to succeed. Jesus gives me loving encouragement. He also calls me to repentance.
So do my true friends.
