Hoshi to Sakura

Interview with Grace Bridges

2012-01-28T08:45:00.001-08:00

As some of you may know, I have been participating in a microfiction project called Avenir Eclectia. It is about the descendents of a generation starship and their struggles to survive in very unforgiving environments.

I asked the creator of the project, Grace Bridges, to answer a few questions about Avenir.

1. What does "Avenir Eclectia" mean? Where did you get the name from? Why did you choose it?

I knew I wanted something completely unique and I liked the idea of a double word. Avenir was easy - it's French for future, and also the model of my brother's car, though that was more of a coincidence. Avenir is the name of the original generation ship that made the journey across space to found the colony. Eclectia is the name of the colony proper, on the planet, called thus because of the wide and "eclectic" variety of people needed to make it work. As things turned out, the Avenir remained in orbit, was expanded, and over a hundred thousand people still live there, so that the colony is effectively divided in two, yet bearing the double name.

2. What inspired the initial design and setting for the Avenir Eclectia universe, e.g., particular books, authors, experiences, or specific real world landscapes?

I wanted to have something for everyone. Space for the sci-fi writers. Mysterious ocean angels and giant beetles for the fantasy. Demons and cataclysms for the horror writers. Everyone should have a place where they are comfortable; to think, yes, I am at home in that setting. The specifics grew from that as I considered initially some of the people I wanted on board.

3. Why did you choose to do this as a microfiction project versus as a novel in chapters?

Microfiction is easy to write. Easy to finish and easy to publish. It is also very well suited to the collaboration of many authors. Their threads weave among each other, touching and crossing, yet individual. This is what makes it fun for everyone to be involved. If it were a novel, I think I would have had to write it all by myself!

4. What lead you to open this project up to other authors? I tend to think of authors as being very protective of their worlds. I imagined that it was not easy to do this.

The world of Avenir Eclectia was created specifically to be shared in this way. So in that sense there was nothing to be protective of. We built up the entire world together, as we wrote one tiny story at a time. I have plenty of other worlds of my own to retreat into - this one was intended to be created by us all working together.

5. After several months of managing this project, what have been the joys and disappointments of doing a shared universe project?

I am constantly amazed that so many people are enthusiastic contributors. Since starting up last March, we've posted three stories a week and never come close to running out. In fact, we now have several months' backlog! But never fear - new contributors, and any who have been absent for a while, are always pulled to the front of the list. It's been a fountain of creativity and I love to see what people have done with the very sparse ideas I set forth in the beginning. The storyworld is now very rich and varied, with its own culture and history.
My only hardship is the constant administration to do with reading submissions, asking for tweaks, maintaining the site and all the indexes, post tags, etc. But I do it gladly.

6. What can we expect from Avenir Eclectia in the future?

When we have collected enough stories, there will be a special edition anthology from Splashdown Books containing the stories to date. But not all - a few of our authors want to withhold their threads from the anthology and create novel-length works of their own. I also have a vague idea for a novel of my own, but I have a lot of other projects before I could think about writing it. I may in fact look for a collaborator to help with that.

Also coming up very soon is a CD and MP3 release of the Avenir Eclectia soundtracks composed by Michael L. Rogers. This is very exciting for us!

Grace, thanks for the answers.

In case anyone is curious about Grace's other pursuits, check the small press that she started called Splashdown Books. There is a great selection of Sci-Fi and fantasy to keep you entertained--inspired--for many, many eons.

Mental Time Travel

2011-11-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

If you are like me, you spend too much time thinking about mistakes that you had made in the past. I am willing to bet that you, like me, also imagine that if you were offered a time machine, you would go start correcting every mistake that you could.

But we must remember that God uses everything--including our past mistakes--to make us more like Jesus. If you prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit, He will show you many times when failures were blessings in disguise. For example, I was only able to go on the missions trip where I first met my wife because I was fired from a job a month before. God closed one door and opened another.

Please note that not all past failures are blessings. We can remember that there are plenty of past mistakes that we caused by our own stupidity and disobedience to what we know the Lord wanted us to do. These resulted in lost blessings that can never be retrieved. We must repent of these past mistakes and move in the Holy Spirit. God can work out everything for good if we give ALL of our past completely to Him (Romans 8:28).

So, get focused on what needs to be done today. Jesus said that the troubles and challenges of today (Matthew 6:34) are more than enough to keep us occupied without having to take the Tardis down the past mistake wormhole.

"Promotion" Is Up

2011-07-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

My new Avenir Eclectia story "Promotion" was posted on the site last week. Shouhei gets an unexpected surprise when he reaches Sheba.

"Thanksgiving" Is Up

2011-07-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

My new story for Avenir Eclectia "Thanksgiving" was posted on the shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifite on July 8. Shouhei learns that even bad situations can lead to important life lessons.

"Assignment" Is Up at Avenir Eclectia

2011-06-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

The new Shouhei Fiko story "Assignment" is up at Avenir Eclectia.
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Here is the address: http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/06/assignment.html

Please read and enjoy.

"Graduation" Posted on Avenir Eclectia

2011-06-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

My first child, Shouhei, was born on February 15 of this year. So I thought what better way to immortalize him than to make him a character in an SF story.

The character of Shouhei Fiko will be part of the microfiction project Avenir Eclectia by Splashdown Books
Here is the link to the first story "Graduation": http://www.avenireclectia.com/2011/05/graduation.html

Please visit, read, and enjoy. There is more to come.

Talented Japanese

2011-06-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

When I first came to Niigata, Japan, two years ago, I saw a man riding his bicycle while holding an umbrella (it was raining at the time) and smoking a cigarette. He did this all at the same time. That takes talent.

A New Bicycle

2010-10-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

I just had to share a miracle that happened to me a few weeks ago. The owner of one of the private language schools that I work at here in Niigata called me to tell me that she had a free bike for me.

Now maybe some of you might be thinking that I should focus on getting a car and not a bike. Well, here in Japan, many people from children to company workers use bicycles to get around. (It sure saves on gas!)

Well, let's get back to my story. The owner of the school calls me and tells me that she has a free bike for me. The bike had been given to a former teacher at the school by a student two years ago. Well, the bike was stolen soon after that. The police found it a short time ago and they called the former student. Then she called the school about it. The former teacher had returned to his home country, so the owner decided to call me and ask me. I said that I would like it. The paperwork was arranged for the bike to be in my name and I got a used bike. I had to spend a little money to replace the light and the front brake pads. The bike turned out to be a great blessing. Now I do not have to walk everywhere.

Samurai Going Out Like a Cowboy!

2010-10-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

I work at a variety of private language schools in addition to my full time job as an assistant language teacher with three high schools. One of the Japanese teachers from a private language school is a major history geek like myself. He told me the story of a samurai named Tsugunosuke Kawai from Nagaoka, in Niigata Prefecture. Tsugunosuke was a samurai general who fought against the forces fighting to restore the authority of the Emperor after two and fifty years of rule by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family.

He had purchased two Gatling guns from some foreign arms dealers. He used them in a battle near Nagaoka when the imperial forces fought to capture the city. He was shooting one of the Gatling guns as he was leading his forces. He was shot in the leg by an imperial sniper. He later died of his wounds. I would love to see a movie about this.

Sad State of Mind for a Teenager

2010-10-02T07:40:00.000-07:00

Recently in one of my classes, we had students watch the first half of the movie "The Bucket List." We then asked them to compose a bucket list of their own. One boy wrote that he wanted to become a member of the Japanese parliament (the Diet) because he wanted to make money. Nothing like greed to motivate someone to dream of a career in "public" service.

Japanese Teenagers Say the Funniest Things

2010-10-02T07:32:00.001-07:00

I just started working as an assistant language teacher in three local high schools at the end of August.

In one of the schools, I was helping to teach a lesson about gift giving. We asked the students to tell us different ideas of gifts that they did and did not want to be given to them if they were in the hospital. Here is a list of some of the things that a few of my students said they did not want:

Cruise missile
Reindeer
Lizard
Crayfish
Cockroach
Bomb
Dynamite
Cicada
Centipede
Influenza
Giraffe

Japanese Holidays

2010-10-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

I thought that everyone might be interested in knowing what holidays we celebrate here in Japan.

January 1-New Year's Day

Coming of Age Day-Second Monday of January

This holiday is to celebrate when young Japanese men and women reach the age of adulthood (21).

National Foundation Day-February 11

This holiday is to celebrate the founding of Japan by the Emperor Jimnu in 660 BC.

Vernal Equinox-Around March 20

This holiday to celebrate life and nature.

Showa Day-April 29

This holiday is to reflect on the events of the Showa Era (1926-1989).

Constitutional Memorial Day-May 3

This holiday celebrates the beginnings of the modern Japanese constitution in 1947.

Greenery Day-May 4

This holiday is to celebrate nature.

Children's Day-May 5

This holiday is to celebrate children.

(Constitutional Memorial Day, Greenery Day, and Children's Day are collectively called "Golden Week" because companies give workers a whole week off around these holidays!)

Marine Day-Third Monday in July

This holiday is to celebrate the sea.

Respect-for-the-Aged Day-Third Monday in September

This holiday is for reminding people to treat their elders with respect.

Autumnal Equinox-Close to September 23

This holiday is for honoring one's ancestors.

Health and Sports Day-Second Monday in October

This day is encourage people to enjoy sports.

Culture Day-November 3

This holiday is to celebrate the announcement of the constitution on November 3, 1946 and promote culture.

Labor Thanksgiving Day-November 23

This is basically the Japanese version of Labor Day.

The Emperor's Birthday-December 23

This is to celebrate the birthday of the current emperor Akihito (December 23, 1933).

Comics

2010-07-03T03:24:00.000-07:00

I miss the days when you could pick up a comic and just enjoy it for the adventure. You did not have to search through the character's angsts or issues. They fought villians and carried the day. My personal favorites were Captain America, Ironman, and Rom. What are your favorites? Post a comment and let me know. It will be a fun discussion.

Japanese Poetry

2010-07-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

Japanese poetry is very unique. It does not depend on rhyming as much as Western poetry forms. I enjoy this because I am not very good at rhyming to begin with.

The two styles that I like experimenting with are the haiku and the tanka. The haiku is composed of three lines with a syllable count of 5-7-5 for a total of 17 syllables. It must contain a seasonal word. Otherwise, it is called a senryu. I have used it as a tool to write science fiction haiku, aka scifaiku.

Here is an example of one that I wrote several years ago:

Black haired girls
Riding on red black hoverbikes
Travel New Tokaido

Tanka is similar except that it has a longer syllable count: 5-7-5-7-7.

Here is an example that I composed just for this blog (don't you just feel so special inside?):

I feel bitter now
Circling a black world
That was once my home
I am but a ghost orbiting
Waiting to join my family.

It is a great form to learn if you want to try something outside of the conventional forms taught in many schools. Give it a shot.

Will Be a Father

2010-06-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

I took my wife to a nice French restaurant on June 7 for a late birthday present. We went to the doctor after because we thought that she might be pregnant. The doctor confirmed our beliefs. We are preparing to welcome the first Ficor born in Japan. This a dream come true for both of us.

Heinlein Form Letter

2010-04-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite writers is Robert Heinlein. I have read most of his books. "Starship Troopers" is my personal favorite. I read his collected letters "Grumbles from the Grave" ten years ago. I remember reading that he received so many fan letters that he and his wife Virginia were not able to personally respond to all of them. I just discovered this post on another blog that had a copy of the form letter (yes, form letter) that he regularly used to respond to fan letters. It is worth a look over.

Happy Easter from Japan

2010-04-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

I just want to wish everyone a Blessed Easter in Jesus.

Signs of Reassurance

2010-03-12T06:12:00.001-08:00

I do not know about any of you, but sometimes I find it difficult to obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. God has been pruning me (John 15:2,4) during this past week. He has been asking me to give up certain things and change some of my bad habits.

I am not always trusting in God, so I foolishly ask Him for signs at times.

Today, the weather in Niigata was beautiful. The sky was clear and sunny. We do not have a dryer at our house, so I hanged the laundry outside to dry before going to work.

My wife, Kiyomi, finished work and told me that the laundry had dried by the time she got home. I had only hanged the laundry out four hours before she returned home!

The past two months here in Niigata have been cold and cloudy. It has always either been raining or snowing during that time. My wife and I had to hang our clothes inside to dry. This took a very long time. Sometimes, we used our heater to stay warm and to dry the the clothes.

God used the quick drying time outside to show me that He will always provide the best way. He will always support us. He is never lazy and He never sleeps (Psalm 121:2-3).

So please never hesitate to trust Him and do what He says and how He wants it done when He asks.

A Quick Description of Korean and Japanese School Years

2010-03-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

I do not know if anyone besides me has ever wondered if the starting and ending time for the average school in other countries was different from the United States. I spent a year in South Korea and I have been in Japan for a few months now, and I can tell you that both countries start and finish their school years at different times from the States.

The school year in South Korea starts in March. There is a summer vacation from late July to the end of August. There is a winter vacation during January. Students and teachers come back for two weeks in February with the school officially ending during the third week of that month. There is a ten day Spring Break afterward where teachers plan for the next year.

The Japanese school year starts in April. There is a summer vacation in July and August and a winter vacation in January. The school year finishes in March.

I hope that anyone who is planning on teaching in either South Korea or Japan will find this information helpful.

The Joy of Being Enjoyed

2010-02-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a blessed New Year. My wife and I went to stay a few days with her parents. We had a lot of excellent homemade Japanese food. I enjoyed spending some time getting to know my brother-in-law, his wife, and their daughter, Yuki. (My brother-in-law asked me to teach her some English. She learned a few new words. It was fun.)

We also enjoyed a Japanese New Year tradition where families watch a large music battle between Japan's music groups. The groups are divided into two teams, red and white teams, and sing their most popular songs. Viewers cast votes via their cell phones or a special function on their TVs. The team with the most votes gets the broadcaster's (NHK-Japan's version of the BBC) banner. It is all for fun and the groups were really good.

I will now address the writers out there. Have you ever written a book and managed to get it published only to have it get very few sales and almost no interest from even close friends? You feel as though you wasted your time and published a piece of trash.

Well, that happened with my short story collection, "Rocket Ships, Cherry Blossoms, and Epiphanies." I got it published in 2005. It has only sold about 15 copies that I know about. A few friends read it and enjoyed it, but not much else.

The owner of a small English school that I work for suggested that we use one of the stories, "Dancing Among the Cherry Blossoms," for an advanced English class. I was thrilled and we used the story over a period of three months. The students were women in their fifties and sixties. We just finished the story last week, and the women said that they loved it. They were really touched by it.

I was very happy because the story involved a lot of Japanese culture. They said that I had gotten the culture right.

So after many years of feeling like the book was not much appreciated, it was a joy to be enjoyed.

The Road to a Princess

2009-11-29T06:45:00.001-08:00

I am sorry that I have not posted in a while. I was very busy finishing my teaching position in Ulsan, South Korea.

I had promised in a past post that I would tell about the love story with my wife, Kiyomi. Well, the following is the promise kept.

I went on a missions trip to Joetsu, Japan, in June 2005. I spent one day with the oldest of the son of the missionary that we came to assist. We played video games at the local arcade, and rode bikes everywhere in the city. He had told me about a local restaurant that had an antique shop in its basement. He told me that I could pick up a yukata (a traditional Japanese shirt worn during the summer) for 500 yen ($5.50 USD). I did not have any traditional Japanese clothing, so I thought that this would be a great chance to pick up one for a very cheap price.

We were met by one of the waitresses at the restaurant who was named Kiyomi. Kiyomi shook my hand. I felt an instant attraction for her. She helped us around the antique shop in the basement. The owner said that he did not have any yukatas, but he was willing to sell me a men's winter kimono for 1,000 yen ($10.10 USD). It was a little small but did suffice.

For the rest of the trip, Kiyomi and spoke to each other on and off. She had been coming to English classes held by the missionary and his wife at their church. Kiyomi and another waitress from the restaurant came to the church on our last day in Joetsu to give us a very simple version of the Japanese tea ceremony. The type of green tea used in the ceremony was very bitter. Thank God for the sweets that were part of the ceremony, because they had helped to kill the taste.

Here is the first picture that we took together:

After I returned to the States, Kiyomi and I exchanged emails almost everyday. I did not want to get involved in a lost distance dating relationship because I had been hurt on several in the past. One of my pastors in my church and the missionary in Joetsu encouraged me to continue sending emails to Kiyomi with Bible verses. (Kiyomi was not a Christian at this time, but she was interested in God and the Bible.) We did this for over a year.

Kiyomi came to my town, in Illinois, in late December 2006, to visit all of the people who came on the mission trip. During her time with some Japanese Christian women at a Christian conference in Indianapolis, she gave her heart to Jesus. She was baptized in the Holy Spirit the next day. She got water baptized shortly after the New Year in 2007. She returned to Japan a few days later.

Kiyomi and I continued emailing each other. I would send her notes from my pastor's messages every week. I refrained from telling her my feelings for her because I wanted her to concentrate on her relationship with Christ first. I asked in my heart that if He wanted Kiyomi and me to enter into a dating relationship that He would give us the best time to start it.

Kiyomi returned to Illinois in April 2008. I had shared with one of my pastors about my feelings for Kiyomi and that I just did not know what to do with them. (I had been very hesitant about entering into any relationships because I had been hurt very badly in the past.) My pastor stated that I should just ask Kiyomi to date me. (I had been telling him about my feelings for Kiyomi since I had returned from the missions trip in 2005. He had always been praying for me and encouraging me on waiting for the Lord's perfect time in starting a relationship.) Another pastor in my church had asked Kiyomi how she felt for me. She told him that she cared for me to and that she would not mind dating me. I had asked Kiyomi to date me at a nice Chinese restaurant close to my university. She said yes. I told her that we would not be official until I got the blessing her both of her parents. (I had already received the blessing from my father a few days earlier.) Another Japanese friend of mine translated my request to date Kiyomi into Japanese.

Kiyomi went straight to her parents' home after she had returned to her hometown. Her parents gave their blessing to the relationship a week later.

I moved to Ulsan, South Korea, after I had completed my masters degree, in August 2008. I had been employed by the city government to work in a local public elementary school there as an Guest English Teacher. I was assisted in my teaching duties by a Korean English teacher. God blessed me with an awesome church behind my apartment who helped me to adjust to Korean life. Kiyomi came to visit me for four days during my 37th birthday there.

Here is a picture of us sitting in the church dining room after the morning service:

Kiyomi had moved to Niigata, Japan, in June 2008. I went there during Christmastime to meet with her parents and ask them for her hand in marriage. They gave their permission after I had returned to Korea.

I came to Niigata, Japan on September 1 of this year. Kiyomi and I got married on October 10 at Grace Chapel, in Niigata.

My Princess and Me

Well, I kept my promise to tell you how I met and married my wonderful princess. She is doing a wonderful job of training this gaijin in the ways of Japanese life.

Review of The Personfid Invasion

2009-05-18T07:44:00.000-07:00

The concept of transferring one's soul into a machine in an attempt at immortality has been an ongoing scene in science fiction for many decades. The example that is most prominent in my mind is the Ghost in the Shell anime series. The series deals with many new issues that come about because of humans having their minds transplanted into a "prosthetic" body. The concept is both fascinating and frightening at the same time. Is it still really "you" when your memories are transferred into an artificial body or is it just a copy?
Almost all of the science fiction that I have read about that theme have pushed a very pessimistic and secular humanist view. I have always wondered what a Christian would have to say on the subject. Would we lose our souls and spirits in the process of soul transference? Would salvation still be possible for a person who had undergone the procedure?
The New Zealand author R.E. Bartlett has written her own answer to these questions. In "The Personfid Invasion," we meet the shy--and very childish--Aphra. She works for a company that has not learned how to scientifically detect the human soul, but also how to transfer it to an artificial body called a personfid. Her bounty hunter brother, Antha, informs her that he has located their long lost sister Ashley. Aphra becomes very excited. She and Antha travel to the city of San Edhem in attempt to find her. Little do they know that Ashley has undergone the procedure to become a personfid. The brother and sister team up with Christians who live in the city to try and rescue Ashley before she is possessed by a group of mysterious beings called Inters. These beings claim to be inter dimensional beings who have to come to Earth to help save mankind from himself. The only problem is that they love to take over personfid bodies with or without the permission of the owner. Antha and Aphra have to race against time in order to get to Ashley before the Inters do.
The story has a lot of action and adventure. I loved Antha's wisecracking nature. (Those kind of characters always appeal to me.) I have to admit that Aphra's constant whining got on my nerves at times, but I have to remember that I resort to that childish state on more occasions that I care to admit. The best part of this novel is that it also tells us that we are never too far from the hand of a loving and caring Savior.
Please stop by Marcher Lord Press and pick up a copy. You can also visit Ms. Bartlett's website to learn more about her.

Interview with Steve Rice

2009-03-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

Steve Rice, the author of "League of Superheroes," graciously answered a few questions that I had about his book, his views on writing superhero fiction, and his other works in a brief, but entertaining interview.

What inspired you to write a Christian based superhero novel?

I wrote a few short stories at school with a superhero theme, and certain parts of LoS arose from being annoyed with how superpowers were portrayed in movies and TV shows. For example, Allen's kidnapping dates back to the late 80's, as I recall.

At that point I considered a story about some kids who encountered a supercomputer called Unity Five that somehow gave them superpowers. Unity Five was a holdover from some high school stories: whenever a character or plot required improbably high tech, Unity Five was the source.

But I never developed that superhero storyline. Then, in 2003, I moved to Colorado. I hoped to resolve a family problem swiftly and settle in eastern Colorado, where there are writing and editing jobs, but instead I found myself marooned in western Colorado, where such jobs are less common. I was staying with friends from church with no job in sight, and in January 2004 I had a strong urge to write a story about a mysterious girl named Genie.

I knew who and what Genie was, but I had no clue about the rest of it. I was making up names as I went, and I didn't even know what Charlie's superhero was until I got there. But it flowed easily and quickly; I wrote the first draft in about two weeks, and the story arc changed considerably. When I was plotting it initially, the first story ended much as it does now, but with Tom seeing a young woman who looks a lot like Genie's avatar. She smiles at him and loses herself in a crowd. It was a good ending, but not counter-cultural enough. In _Genie at Large_, something vaguely similar happens ("I turned and once again looked into eyes that God had never formed"), but the whole concept is strikingly at odds with what our secular culture assumes.

What comic book characters are your favorites?

Mom banned superhero comics when I was fairly young, so I didn't get into them much. (This was in the period when they were getting especially weird, so she was probably right.) There were certain ideas that I liked: Green Lantern was imaginative rather than just super-powered--this was the Green Lantern who created things on the fly, not the more recent version. Batman had no actual super powers, though he used gadgets a lot. And while I never read Iron Man, I liked the concept.

In my teens I started reading the old pulps--mostly The Shadow and Doc Savage--and I quickly realized that Batman was the same sort. But I watched some superhero TV shows and sometimes movies later.

What did you admire about these characters?

I generally prefer characters who lean on brains rather than brawn. I also want someone with a strong moral and ethical sense, which is why I tend to ignore the newer superheroes and the movies.

You use a lot of science in your novel. Can you tell me where you do your background research for your book?

Mostly it derives from reading a lot of science books and magazines over the years. My older brother has degrees in physics, math, and so forth, as well as a strong computer-science background, so I picked up a fair amount by osmosis. When researching something specific, I often use Wikipedia as a starting point, though I also go beyond it: the links below the article are there for a reason. I also sometimes find it useful to read the articles in other languages--you can get a different viewpoint and usually different links. But thinking about it--understanding the implications--is probably the most important thing.

Are there any other writers or currently doing Christian themed superhero novels?

There's A. P. Fuchs and his Axiom Man series, though I haven't read it, and Adam Graham does superhero fiction in his Laser & Sword e-zine, some of which I have read.

Are there any other writers in this genre that you would recommend for further reading?

Adam Graham's work is good, and I imagine that Fuchs' Axiom Man is too.

What do you want your readers to get from reading your book?

I hope they gain a vision of what Christianity is supposed to be: not perfect, but serious about pursuing God and thinking biblically. I also hope it builds some bridges between denominations.

What advice do you have for people who are thinking about writing in this genre?

The most important task for any Christian writer is to know the Bible well and always try to think through the implications. But the superhero genre probably has an above-average tendency to conform to secular ideas of right and wrong, so Christian writers must be especially careful there. In the "Pandora's Lamp" sub-series, there's a question only briefly raised in the first story: where does their authority to act come from? The answer grows over time and sometimes goes in unexpected and unpleasant directions in later stories:
"If that's true, then I've just killed a lot of people."
"No, Darklight. I have. Or rather, I have opened a door for the wicked to destroy each other. And believe it or not, I am authorized to do that."--_Dark War_

Will there be any potential sequels or spinoffs from this book? If so, when?

The timing is uncertain, but _League of Superheroes_ is the first installment of the origin series "Pandora's Lamp," followed by other story arcs and eventually culminating with the "Excalibur" arc. The next story is _Genie at Large_.

I want to thank Steve for his time and insightful interview answers. Please check more of his work at http://ansric.pbwiki.com/

League of Superheroes Review

2009-03-11T05:20:00.000-07:00

LEAGUE OF SUPERHEROES
By Stephen Leon Rice

ISBN-13: 9781934284056 (Trade Paperback)
168 pages
Pub. Date: October 2008
Publisher: The Writers’ Cafe Press

When I received Steve Rice’s League of Superheroes, I was as excited as a kid on Christmas Day. I was looking forward to discovering if this book would be a good read that recaptured my love of the old superhero stories of my childhood or a major letdown. I am happy to say that it was the former.

The story is somewhat familiar to every boy who harbored secret childhood fantasies of suddenly becoming superheroes. A group of boys are in a meeting of their Mad Scientist Club are rudely interrupted by one of the member’s little sister. She was wanting to give her personal information to someone on her chat line. After the boys fail to convince her of the dangers of doing so, they go and investigate who this person is. The boys question the younger sister’s new “friend.” They discover a mysterious individual who claims to be a preteen girl yet demonstrates a higher intelligence than most college professors do. One of the boys goes against the other’s advice and sends his personal information to the “girl.” The boys also give information on their favorite comic book characters. The story gets more interesting when the group starts receiving power suits just like the ones that the comic characters possess. The big difference is that these work better than the ones in the comics. So, the group is faced with many daunting questions. Who is this mysterious girl named “Genie” who can make comic book like power suits which are well beyond the current science of the day. Who—or what—exactly is Genie? Is she just some super prodigy, or some entity that is more than human?

The story is very well written with lots of good clean fun. There is no foul language.

The story does make the reader question if the gifts that the boys receive from Genie are something that they should even have in the first place. The book also explores the issue of what defines human life.

Even though the book was written like a comic book, Steve manages to include a lot of scientific explanation in the text for many of the heroes' newfound powers. (I have to confess that it took a while to absorb some of it since I am not up on the latest scientific knowledge.) I am amazed how the boys are always staying true to their Christian upbringing and be respectful of their parents. They also choose to use their newfound powers for good instead of mischief and lawbreaking like many of us would be prone to do even as adults. I wished that I could have been as honest and honorable as these boys could when I was their age.

You can read the first chapter here on the author’s personal wiki: http://ansric.pbwiki.com/LeagueofSuperheroes.

The book is available from The Writer’s Café Press. You can check out Steve's blog to learn more about this interesting and complex author

Perry Rhodan

2009-02-16T04:09:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting idea for a science fiction writer. How about creating a series that is going very strong for almost 50 years. The series has a total of 2500 titles and more are being added on a monthly basis. That is beyond the wildest dreams of even the most ambitious writer of any genre. Well, I have just described the Perry Rhodan series from Germany. I know that most of you may have not heard of this series. I learned about the series around ten years ago in an encyclopedia of science fiction odds and ends that I picked up from the discount table at a Borders bookstore. (I had to give up that precious little gem many years ago in order to clear up some space for other important items, mainly myself.) Unfortunately, the entry was very small and only gave very basic information. So I did not give it much thought after that.

I looked up the series last week because I had relearned about during one of my many time killing trips into Wikipedia land. The series was created in 1961 by the German authors Walter Ernsting and K.H. Scheer. They had to take English pen names because German publishers at the time were not publishing any works written by German SF writers at the time.

The basic story is that the crew of the first manned landing on the Moon discovers an alien spacecraft inhabited by two humanoid members of an a race called the Arkonides. One of the Arkonides has leukemia. The mission commander, Major Perry Rhodan, decides to take the alien back to Earth to meet an Australian scientist who has discovered a cure for the disease. Rhodan makes the fateful decision to use the aliens' technology to force the nations of the Earth to unite in order to fight the many hostile races of the universe.

Along the way, Rhodan is granted eternal life by one of the alien species that he meets. This allows him--and the many writers of the series--to continue his adventures of uniting the Earth and turning it into a major galactic power.

This series is definitely an example of the grand epic space opera genre. During his 3000 years of life, he has traveled to faraway galaxies, parallel universes, and back and forth through time. And according to the sources that I have looked at, he will be continuing to mold and shape the universe for many more millennia to come.

I have tried to find out more about the series, but the amount of English language material discussing the series is very few and limited. Most of the material is in German. It has a very large fan base in Europe. I think that it is safe to say this is Germany's answer to Star Trek, but I think that the latter is far to limited in scope by comparison.

I read the Wikipedia entry on it. I have discovered a website where readers have posted reviews of the individual volumes in English, but it is not complete. It gives the newcomer to the series a very good idea about what happens in the series.
There is an English language fan site that gives the reader links to other sites including German language sites. There are very few editions available in English. I think that it might be because it would be a daunting task to get every issue translated into English. That is just my thought.

I will have to contend myself right now with reading just the summaries on the site that I have mentioned above. I am way too slow of a reader to even think of keeping up with this series.

K-20: Legend of the Mask Review

2009-01-05T03:28:00.000-08:00

For the few who of you who do read this blog on a regular basis (please leave comments so that I know someone cares!!!), I apologize for the long absence. I finished my master's degree in early August and then I left for Ulsan, South Korea, at the end of that month. I have also started dating a beautiful Christian Japanese woman. She came to visit me in October for my birthday and then I went to visit her and meet her parents during the last week of December. She is an awesome woman who is a strong Christian and who does not mind my like of science fiction.

Just before I left for Japan, I saw an article for a Japanese action hero movie called "K-20: The Legend of the Mask." The full article is available at SciFi Japan website.

The article piqued my interest so I made it one of my goals to see the movie (which had been released on December 20 in Japanese theaters).

Here is the trailer:

I asked my girlfriend if she would be willing to see the movie and she said that she would.

We got a takeout pizza and ate at a park along the main river in her city. Then we rushed off to the movie theater to catch the matinee showing. (It only cost the equivalent of $12 USD a person instead of the regular $18 USD.) The movie was in Japanese with no English subtitles, but the story was easy to follow for someone who has spent the majority of his life digesting truckloads of science fiction, old radio programs, comic books, and assorted other related stuff. My girlfriend translated the parts of the dialogue that I could not follow. (God gave me the best girlfriend in existence!!!)

The story is based on a character created by the father of Japanese mystery fiction Rampo Edogawa. (The actual movie is more based on a new version of the character from a novel by Soh Kitamura.)

The setting is a fictional version of Tokyo, called Teito, in an alternate 1949 that never experienced World War II. The opening sequence is loaded with scenery that reminds the viewer of the old science fiction art and movie serials from the 1930s and 40s. There is even a huge zeppelin that launches Kayaba Ka-1 autogyros. K-20 comes from the combination Kaijin (Japanese for "fiend") and the fact that he is the master of 20 disguises. K-20 is a mysterious criminal who is a master of disguise who looks and acts like a cross between The Shadow and Batman.

After the breathtaking scenery, the viewer is taken to a room where a Tesla Coil is being demonstrated before a group of scientists. The experiment is disrupted by K-20. After this, the police begin looking for him vigorously.

The hero is a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo who is hired to take some pictures of a photos a lavish engagement ceremony between popular Detective Kogoro Akechi and the beautiful aristocrat Yoko Hashiba. When Heikichi begins snapping pictures using the camera given to him by the man who hired him, explosions violently wrack the building. Heikichi is spotted and accused of being K-20. He is later apprehended and charged with being the notorious criminal. He is able to escape during transit to prison with the assistance of the real K-20. He is able to make it back to his friends and hide in the slums of Teito. He realizes that he had been set up, so he decides to imitate K-20 in order to catch the real criminal.

He later rescues Yoko when the real K-20 tries to kidnap her. He takes her to the slums to hide out. Yoko has spent her entire life living a life of privilege and luxury, but now she comes face to face with the destitute and poor that she had never even known of before. She adapts to life in the slums very quickly and even begins offering to get food for a group of orphans.

The movie ends with a wild showdown between Heikichi and the real K-20 that can literally decide the fate of the world.

The movie is loaded with beautiful scenery, awesome action sequences, cool costumes, and many surprises (you will not believe what Yoko can fly). The only objectionable scenes are where Heikichi is beaten up by the police during "questioning", a scene where Yoko stands up in a bathtub, much to the shock of Heikichi and his friend (only Yoko's upper back is seen. The next scene shows Yoko fully clothed and happily enjoying a meal while Heikichi and his friend are using tons of tissue to stop their nosebleeds.), and another scene where Yoko suggestively unbuttons the top button on her dress in an attempt to keep the man they suspect as the real K-20 distracted while Heikichi and his pals try to recover a valuable painting from the criminal's office.

If you are a fan of the old superhero comics and movie serials of the past and you want a special take on the old theme, this movie is a must see.

Space Stations and Elderly Japanese Salvagers

2008-07-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

I reread a short story today that I absolutely love. The story is called "Auriga's Streetcar" by Jean Rabe. The story appears in the anthology "Space Stations" (DAW Books 2004). I have read this story around a dozen times, and I love it more each time I read it.

The story is about a independent space salvager from Japan named Hoshi. She is 84 years old and wants to make one last salvage trip before finally hanging up the space suit. She goes to an abandoned orbiting observatory that is officially called Yerkes-Two. The station was given the nickname "Auriga's Streetcar" because one could view the constellation Auriga from it and the shape of the station resembled a streetcar. The station had been abandoned nine months earlier and its orbit was decaying rapidly, so Hoshi wanted to obtain two large lens from the station that dated back to the 1890s. These lens were from from the original Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin and were placed on the orbiting facility out of tradition.

During what was supposed to be a routine salvage, Hoshi runs into problems when she discoveries that her little orbital skimmer was floating away from the station after docking clamp had been disengaged. She soon discovers that a younger salvager had taken the precious lens from her ship and disengaged her ship's docking clamp. She helps the younger man in order to get a ride back to Earth where she plans to report him to the authorities for stealing her salvage. Everything is going according to the younger upstart's plan until an alien device is discovered on the station. The pair learn that someone (or something) has been using the old station to spy on Earth. Things get really bad when they discovered that the younger man's ship was disconnected from the station. Hoshi manages to work the alien device from its mounting and forced him, the mysterious device, and the two lens into the station's still functional escape pod. Afterward, we learn that Hoshi and that station are being towed away by the aliens' space ships to their home in the Auriga constellation.

I love this story because it talks about a Japanese astronaut who does not give up doing what she loves despite her age. If you get a chance, pick up the anthology at your local bookstore or library and read this story, do so. You will not regret it.

Corn Cob Missile Defence and Brick Cities

2008-07-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

I am sorry to those who look forward to these posts. I have been very busy with finishing my masters degree and starting a new relationship. (I will have more on the latter in a later post.)

I will continue down memory lane with some ramblings about my childhood imaginings. My family owned an empty lot next to our home that we used to grow corn every year. I noticed that the cobs looked like rockets so I came up with the idea that I could pretend that they were missiles. I dug a few shallow interconnecting trenches in my backyard that I placed wooden boards over them. I put some dirt over the boards and pretended that they formed a missile base. There were a few places that served as underground launch pads for the corncob missiles stored in the tunnels. The base was not very active because my father had to mow the yard, so I had to repair the yard. The base had "launched" a retaliatory strike against an alien planet for its first strike attack on Earth.

My father and grandfather had a pile of bricks in our backyard that they used to prop up the riding mower when they were working on it. I used to stand the bricks on their ends to serve as small cities. I used small rocks out of the driveway to use as little cars. This set up worked really well except when the great lawn mower demanded the dismantling of the cities for the grass to grow.

They were fun times. Just remember that God has given us imaginations that cannot be limited by the materials around us. Just remember to ask God how to use the materials around you, and He will show you how in a mighty and sovereign way.

Rock Space Fighters, Old Water Heater Space Cruisers, and Space Hamster

2008-02-14T23:20:00.000-08:00

You are probably looking at the title of this post and wondering if I have flipped my lid. Actually, the title sums up the beginnings of my love of science fiction and the genesis of some of my current science fiction worlds.

I grew up in a lower class family near the St. Louis area in the early 1980s. We did not have a lot of money for the latest toys, so my sister and I made do with what we had. I used to play in our small backyard for hours at a time. I did not have any friends in the neighborhood, so I played by myself a lot of the time. We owned the adjoining lot that was empty. My grandfather used it for a small garden most of the year. There was a lot of junk in the backyard: old bricks, pipes, and assorted bits and pieces here and there. It was not much, but it provided a world of opportunity for a young boy with an overactive imagination.

Most of the science fiction that I consumed during this time came in the form of old SF movies from the 1950s-1970s and Saturday morning cartoons. The Buck Rogers, Star Trek, and Star Wars live action shows were served up with huge helpings of Orbots, Transformers, Space Ghost, and an assortment of other cartoons. My sister would help me reenact many of our favorite shows in that small backyard. (We also came up with many original adventures on our own.) That backyard was a place where we could travel in time or go to distant worlds light years away.

My mother did buy us quite a few of our favorite toys, but we did not get everything that we wanted. I just resorted to using whatever materials were available to me at the time. I loved to have space battles with fighters and the like. I used the small triangular shaped rocks from the driveway for the fighters. The larger rocks were used for space bombers. (Another advantage to using the rocks was that when you destroyed them, you did not feel bad and you could easily replace them.)

An old water heater in the backyard served as a space carrier and exploration ship on many an adventure to the Andromeda galaxy.

I used to draw my own comics that I put together by stapling a few pieces of typing paper together and drawing the story on the resulting pages. My favorite character that I created was Space Hamster. He was inspired by the 1980s remake of the Space Ghost cartoon and my burgeoning love of hamsters. (My first hamster was a beige colored one named Ray. He served as president for a few of the nations and planets that I created.) Alas, these early creations have been lost over the years.

I guess that the main point of this nostalgia trip is to say that you can create whole worlds and adventures for your fiction despite an humble surroundings that may be around you. Just trust the Creator to nurture the ideas in you.

Old School Sci Fi

2008-02-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

I should be using this extra time to catch up on assignments for my masters programs, but I decided that the time will be better served by posting on the blog. I started writing science fiction when I was around ten years old. My stories were more like comic books, and they had been inspired by many old SF shows from the 1950's to the early 1980's. I started actually reading whole novels when I was around fifteen years old. I was influenced by the works of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Donald Wollheim, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke. I wrote a few stories where I tried to emulate these great masters, but the stories sounded more like pulp magazine stories. I gave up on writing any kind of science fiction until a few years ago.

I wanted to model my stories off of more mature works of the genre. When I am using the term mature, I am referring to the more recent novels and short stories of the last twenty or so years. I thought that the old stories of the fifties and earlier were a little childish and naive compared to more contemporary stories.

That opinion started changing in the last few years. The ezine, "Raygun Revival," renewed my love of the old stories. They were not so much focused on sex as many of the modern stories of today are. They were clean and very entertaining. I recently discovered the Internet Archives where I have been downloading MP3's of old time radio science fiction shows like "X Minus One," "Buck Rogers," "Space Patrol," and an old BBC program "Journey in Space." It was cool to listen to them. I started realizing that these old school SF stories were not always corny. Many of them were very original and thought provoking. "Buck Rogers" and "Space Patrol" were very corny, but they tried to introduce a generation of youngsters to science and the possibilities of spaceflight.

Amish Visit

2008-01-05T21:36:00.000-08:00

I got a chance to visit the Amish community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, during a recent stay with my sister. It was a very eye opening experience.

Many Americans view the Amish as backward and technophobic. This is not the case at all. They use modern conveniences and their concerns in life are the same as those of other people. I went on a tour of a house that was modeled on the ones that the Amish use. The Amish do not use electricity because they want to be a people set apart for the Lord. They have come up with very creative ways to get around the use of electricity in modern appliances. They use propane to power their ovens and some of their other appliances. A diesel generator is used pump compressed air to power blenders, automatic milking machines, and other machinery. Kerosene space heaters are used to heat the downstairs, and older style kerosene lanterns are used to provide lighting for the upstairs.

The scariest device that I saw during the tour was a gas-powered iron. It looks like a regular iron but it has a small gas tank at the base. A hot iron that close to a gas source can be quite disastrous, but this is my personal opinion.

The Amish tend to wear plain cloths because they do not want to draw attention to themselves. I believe that this is also based upon their philosophy of simplicity. The men and women do not wear any patterned cloths. All cloths are composed of solid colors. They only form of jewelry that the men are allowed to wear is a pocket watch. The women do not wear any jewelry, including wedding bands.

All decorations in the house must be functional. There is nothing in the house just for the sake of making place looking pretty. There are many calendars in the house because they are the only pictures that you will find in an Amish home.

The community structure is unique. Each community is divided into church districts of approximately twenty-six families each. There are two ministers and one deacon over each district. (Ministers do not receive any formal training. The Amish believe that God will lead the ministers in what they should preach during the service.) A bishop is over two church districts.

The Amish have services every two weeks instead of weekly. There are no church buildings. Services are held in the homes of individual families. Each family in the district is expected to host church at least once a year. An average service goes from 8:00 AM to Noon. People socialize afterwards. Courting couples will attend a service singing hymns later in the evening.

The household that will be hosting the service on a particular week will clear the living room (or “great room” as they call it) on the preceding Wednesday. A wagon will come with the benches and items needed for the service. The room will be converted in a short period of time. The room will have two rows of benches. The men and boys will sit on one side and the women and girls on the other side.

Services are held in High German. (Low German and English are used in daily life.) The only version of the Bible that is used is the one that Martin Luther German translation from Latin.

A person is not considered a full member of the church until they are baptized. Men are usually baptized when they are between 21 and 23 years old. Women are baptized between the ages of 17 and 18 years old.
My sister and I went on a buggy ride. The man who was driving the buggy told us that a lot of Amish trade their buggies in about every two to five years. This sounded funny because it is exactly what many Americans do with their cars. He told us that a new buggy can cost up to $7000.

The New Moon Race

2007-11-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

A new race for the moon began in September. Japan launched its Selene (or Kaguya) lunar probe on September 13. You can read about the launch at space.com.

Below is a short video clip of the launch from the Japanese space agency (JAXA).

Space.com reported that it reached lunar orbit on October 5 . Its mission is expected to last for one year. It deployed two microsatellites, RSAT and VRAD, to aid it in its mission to create detailed maps of the Moon's surface and gravitational field.

Here is a beautiful video of the Earthrise as viewed from Kaguya on November 7:

China launched its Chang'e 1 (the Chinese goddess of the Moon) probe on October 24:

BBC.com reported that it reached lunar orbit today. This follows the successful launching of two manned missions in 2003 and 2005. Its mission is to obtain three dimensional maps of the lunar surface, probe the lunar soil, and make distribution maps of valuable elements like titanium and uranium. It is part of a very extensive program for manned mission to the Moon and possible colonization.

India is not going to be left behind. It plans to launch its own, Chandrayaan, early next year.

Here is an excellent animation that explains the mission:

All three nations have the goal of putting an astronaut on the Moon within the next fifteen to twenty years. The Asian tigers just broke orbit.

Flashpoint Blog Tour

2007-10-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

I am participating in a blog tour to promote the new cyberpunk novel, Flashpoint, by Frank Creed. This is the first Christian cyberpunk novel that I have ever encountered. It is an awesome read. (Please see my review on the June 14, 2007 post of this blog.)

I posted a few questions to Frank about what inspired him to write this landmark epic. Here is that humble little interview.

Me: Who are the biggest spiritual influences when it comes to your faith?

Frank: There was this one guy, had to be 7 feet tall . . . went by the name Goliath I think.

*ahem*

I worked with a guy in a sheet metal shop, but the name of Michael Keane. He introduced me to the nonfiction works of Francis Schaeffer. Yeah, Mom dragged me to church every Sunday, but I spent my time daydreaming. As soon as I got out of the overprotective house, I lived as a Hedonist. It was not until my mid-20s that I truly found God. I do of course credit a few members of the Godhead. :-)

Me: Who are the biggest influences when it comes to your writing?

Frank: Here's my sci-fi list: George Orwell, Philip K. Dick, Michael Stackpole, Mel Odom, Nyx Smith, William Gibson, Karen McSpadden, Julius Huxley, and Harry Harrison.

For Christian fiction, M.L. Tyndall's pirate fiction surpasses Lewis, Peretti, and Lawhead. This woman is shelved as a historical romance, but Christian pirate stories? That's alternate history--a speculative fiction subgenre.

Me: Why did you choose the sub genre of cyberpunk?

Frank: It's just how he made me to be. The high tech near future that we're walking into is a very scary place. I do not trust the liberties granted to law enforcement after the Patriot Act. The United States is in a place that could make a very good or very bad decisions for the future of the world. This is the perfect backdrop for eschatological (Christ's second coming) fiction. My greatest influence is George Orwell, and I so admire his warning of the oppressive evils allowed by technology.

Me: Were there certain novels or movies that influenced this decision?

Frank: My favorite all-time movie is The Matrix. I'd already begun writing Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground, and I knew then that I'd be seen as a copycat. Then actually works for me, if there was one film I would like to be associated with it is The Matrix. Star Wars, Blade Runner, Nightmare on Elm Street and Johnny Nemonic were also very influential films.

Me: Do you think that advances in science, such as the field of nanotechnology, will make the world of Flashpoint a reality in our lifetime?

Frank: Nearly all of the technology is already here—it's just a matter of how we choose to use it. The diabolical oppressive applications of knowledge like nano, are unthinkable. Using a keyboard to input data into a computer is so inefficient. I do believe that in our lifetime we will see a direct link between the human brain and the motherboard. This is part of why it's so fun to write cyberpunk . . . what if?

Me: Where would you send any aspiring cyberpunk writers to get information and inspiration for their own works?

Frank: I'd send them to a different subgenre of science fiction! After all my years online, there is no shortcut.

For authors of Christian cyberpunk, Google The Lost Genre Guild, it's a good place to start.

You can learn more about this book at Frank Creed's website: www.frankcreed.com/flashpoint.html.

You can also visit Books of the Underground site at: www.booksoftheunderground.com

Signed copies can be purchased at: www.thewriterscafe.com/flashpointoffer.html.

Please visit the other participating blogs in this historic tour:

Fantasy Thyme
jamessomers.blogspot.com
Write and Whine
Hoshi to Sakura
Wayfarer's Journal
BlogCritics Interview
Daniel I Weaver
Disturbing the Universe
Grace Bridges
Queen of Convolution
Virtual Tour de 'Net
Christian Fiction Review Blog
Yellow30 Sci-Fi: Review
Yellow30 Sci-Fi: Interview
Back to the Mountains
MaryLu Tyndall
Cathi's Chatter

Please leave a comment and your name will be entered into a drawing to win a signed copy of Flashpoint along with other Flashpoints goodies. The winner will be announced next week at the Lost Genre Guild blog: blog.lostgenreguild.com.

Poem from Stephen

2007-09-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

One of the ladies from one of my online critique groups asked members of the group to post a poem by a young man named Stephen Todd Jones who is a writer and poet from Virginia Beach, Virginia.

While a sophomore at Liberty University, he sustained injuries in a car crash that left him in a wheelchair, and this perspective forms the basis for much of his writing. Through his poetry, he gives us a window into his world and his faith.

Please pray for God's comfort and mercy to Stephen and his family in this time.

We Dream Still

Only some dreams

Are God's will

For us to obtain here;

We dream still.

Some are contrary to

His loving fill

Of events for our life.

We dream still.

Some are meant to be

Ours though until

Comes the proper moment,

We dream still.

Some of our dreams

God will not fulfill

For He knows better than we;

We dream still.

We think we know better

From our clouded sill,

Facing what we see dimly;

We dream still.

Through a glass darkly,

We see and we will

What may be impossible;

We dream still.

God, may dreams sifted

Be like wheat until

Chaff is winnowed out;

We dream still.

Flashpoint RPG Review

2007-08-05T23:53:00.001-07:00

I just read an early copy of the Flashpoint Role Playing Game. It is based off of the novel Flashpoint by Frank Creed. I will have to admit that I have not always been one of the biggest enthusiasts for RPGs (gamers shorthand for “role playing games), but I did like what I saw in this one.

It starts off with a brief description of what a RPG is and a brief glossary of terms related to the game. One paragraph is devoted to telling the reader what the world of Flashpoint is, but I really recommend that the future gamer read the novel so that they can be more knowledgeable of the world that the game takes place in.

This is a quick start guide so it is very basic. The game rules are laid out very simply and concisely. A more developed version is promised for sometime in the future, but a specific date has not been given. Game play is very easy to follow and all that is needed is a couple of six sided dice, some paper, pencils, a good imagination, and a desire to have fun. There is even a scenario made up so that players can start a game immediately.

The only gripe that I had about the game is that there were no maps. The quick start scenario would tell players to look at certain maps during the course of the game, but the maps were not included in the booklet.

You can learn more by visiting Frank Creed’s site at www.frankcreed.com.

Dirts: Episode 01-"Reason"

2007-07-08T21:07:00.000-07:00

Sergeant Gain Lasiku stood at attention in front of Lieutenant Li Nilusuan's desk. He had only been discharged from the Commonwealth Marines just over a year ago. Sixteen years of service in the Corps had made his body accustomed to being at attention for long periods of time.

His last twelve years in had been as a military policeman. His last unit was infamous for long uniform inspections. (Lasiku thought that this was because the unit was in an area that had very little else for them to do, accept breaking up weekend fights at the local establishments.)

He had just returned to his home world of New Haipeita just his discharge from the military, and he had joined the New Haipeitan Terrestrial Security Forces shortly after. He wanted to get into the Space Security Forces, but they told him that he was not qualified enough. But he contented himself with the fact that Ojeko had a purpose for him being in the dark blue green uniform of the TSF.

The Second Section's commanding officer looked up from examining Lasiku's records and said, “At ease, Sergeant.”

Lasiku assumed the more relaxed posture. He knew that the TSF was more relaxed than the Marines in some areas, but they were sticklers for proper respect being given to superiors. It was made up of a lot of veterans.

“Your record is very impressive, Sergeant,” Nilusuan commented. “You spent sixteen years with the Commonwealth Defense Force Marines. The first four were as a Heavy Infantry Armor pilot and the last twelve as a military policeman. Your records shows that you were highly decorated and you about served at every base in the Commonwealth. After you were discharged, you returned to New Haipeta to join the Security Forces. You couldn't get into the Space Security Forces, but you managed to convince someone that you were bright enough to be admitted to the Accelerated Sergeants Program here in the TSF. Then you got to be stationed here with us “dirts” in the sticks of Jotsu.”

The lieutenant could not help the smirk that appeared on his face when Lasiku winced at the mention of TSF's unofficial nickname. He knew that Lasiku was a man who wanted to spend his time in space, but got stuck planetside. His record showed that he had spent most of his military career being frequently deployed from planet to planet. Maybe this might be what he needs in his life. Nilusuan smiled at the thought. He knew that a man eventually had to settle on some planet. It was just the way Ojeko had intended things to be.

“That is not a problem, sir,”

Nilusuan could not decide if he was going to like this military protocol that Lasiku was displaying or if he wanted to kill him. He thought that only time will decide.

“I will have to warn you Sergeant,” the lieutenant became very serious now in facial expression and demeanor. “You will be assigned the 723rd Squad. They will be a handful. Their former sergeant was dismissed on charges of corruption. His trial will be next month. They are probably the most undisciplined bunch in the garrison.” Then Nilusuan leaned forward in his chair and his elbows came to rest on his desk. “I personally requested you when Captain Zinshi told me about you coming to the Seventh Watch. I looked over your record and I am willing to bet a year's wages that you can whip those boys into shape. Your experience as a master sergeant in the Marines will go along in do that.”

“Pardon me sir” Lasiku interrupted. “Aren't there other former military personnel who can do the job better, since they know the province and men of this unit better?”

Lieutenant Nilusuan looked more intently at the new sergeant and smiled. “You are not very familiar with the situation here in Jotsu, are you, sergeant?”

“I have to confess that I did not study much on the province before I learned of my assignment here,” Lasiku did not like admitting to such a foolish mistake since he had always prided himself on being thoroughly knowledgable on any new place that he was deployed to before actually going there. He realized that his discipline was slipping.

“I will get you up to speed very fast,” the lieutenant offered. “Jotsu is one the poorest provinces on New Haipeta. The only products that we have here is a major Delansuka processing plant and some minor port facilities here in Jotsu City. Siwa, Kiyo, and Yoto Districts are barely managing because the Asiriki Kaido (the expressway) passes through their capitals. Imuya District is back in the mountains away from the sea, and the only major industries there are three food processing plants that pay their employees as little as possible. The rest of the population are farmers who are barely scraping by. We have about 4000 Cheinmai who live in the Harbortown Ward of Jotsu City and are discriminated against because of their dark skin color. The provincial government is seen as corrupt.”

Lieutenant Nilusuan straightened up and gave a look at Gain that would have melted rock. “The population views the Security Forces as the only honest group here in the province. That is because we are under Federal control and viewed as being above the mess in the governor's office.”

He relaxed his stare. “That is why everyone is taking this situation with the former sergeant of your squad very seriously. It was one of our own who let us down. That is why I am insisting that you turn that around.”

“Yes sir,” Lasiku just never could understand officers who had to use “insist” instead of “order.”

“Do you have any questions?” the Lieutenant gave Lasiku a look that really did not want any question.

“No sir. I think that you have covered everything that I needed to know.”

“Good,” Nilusuan smiled. “I have a feeling that you will do fine here, Sergeant. Your second in command, Corporal Jamuroga, has been in the province for six years. He is a very capable noncom. You will find him very resourceful and willing to help. Now go ahead and take your record down the hall to Records and Private Imuki will get you set up in the system and help you on all of the administrative ends. Dismissed.”

Li handed the datapad containing his records to him, and he did a smart about face after taking them.

He realized his mistake of not asking where Records was after he closed the door to the Lieutenant’s office. He did not want to ask because he did not want to look like a fool. He thought that the military would have trained him to get rid of that problem of not asking for help by now. Lasiku had always been very prideful of being able to get around without much help from anyone. That is what had made him an excellent non-commissioned officer in the Marines (or so he thought). It has to be marked on the doors somewhere.

Gain started walking down the halls looking at the doors. There was nothing painted on them. He was starting to be concerned that someone was going to see him look like such a fool.

He walked on for a few minutes. He was so focused on trying to figure out why nothing was painted on the door that he did not notice it hitting him in the face. Gain hit the floor and sat there dumfounded.

“I’m sorry,” came the sweetest female voice that he had ever heard. “I should have been more careful. Are you okay?”

Lasiku’s gaze drifted from the small white hand that held his to a lovely rounded face with eyes like black pearls. Strands of midnight black hair flowed from beneath her beret. Her hair was done up in a regulation bun. She was wearing the same type of uniform with its blue green tunic and beret that he was wearing but she wore a knee length skirt of the same color. She was wearing the collar insignia and epaulettes of a sergeant. Her body was very slender. Gain was awestruck. He never thought that anyone could look so lovely in a uniform the way this woman did.

He was awakened from his trance by the woman’s attempt to pull her hand from his. “You can let go,” she insisted.

“Sorry,” Gain felt his cheeks becoming very warm because of his blushing. He got back on his feet and brushed himself off.

The lovely sergeant leaned over and picked up his datapad. She smiled and gave it to him.

“I take it you’re the new sergeant for the 723rd Squad?”

“Yes,” he was barely able to keep himself from stuttering. “I just reported today. I’m lost. Can you point me to Records? I can’t find the sign.”

She shook her head. “You’ll never find it because all of the signs have been removed. They are going to start repainting all of the office doors on this floor next week. They did not think about new personnel coming in. It’s down the hall. Second door on your right.”

“Thank you,” Gain was about to walk away when the woman stopped him. “What is your name anyway?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he apologized. “I am Gain Lasiku. Can I ask your name?”

“Sergeant Daigi Li,” she said. “I’m in charge of the 724th Squad.”

“I guess we will be seeing a lot of each other?”

“Yeah,” she said. She smiled and said, “I have to run these reports to the Captain’s office. Good luck and welcome to Jotsu.”

“Thanks and bye.”

Sergeant Li was already on her way before he had spoken. Maybe that might be one of the reasons why Ojeko had him come to Jotsu after all. At least, he hoped.

***

Gain’s head came crashing back planetside when he inspected the 723rd several hours later. He had them stand in formation, and they were the sorriest bunch he had ever seen. Their uniforms were wrinkled and their service blasters looked as if they had not been cleaned in a month.

His assistant, Corporal Zaikiri Jamuroga, stood by his side as he had just finished inspecting the two privates and three private first classes. He just shook his head after he had gave the order for “at ease.” He walked off to the side with Jamuroga just far enough to where they could not be overheard.

“How can you let them get like this?” Gain had reverted to the master sergeant mentality that he had hoped to give up since leaving the Marines. He thought that Ojeko had other plans.

“I am sorry for the condition of the unit, Sergeant Lasiku,” Jamuroga held his head low. “The situation with Sergeant Miyza has gotten us all down. Even though none of his were personally involved in his mess, we are still looked on as the black sheep of the garrison.”

“We’ll work on them,” Gain had put his hand on Zaikiri’s shoulder. Gain’s faith and experience had taught him that there was a time to be the tough guy and a time to be a gentle mentor. Jamuroga’s dejected state called for the latter. “What is done is done. We are going to turn the situation around. I believe that with Ojeko’s help, this squad with be the best one out of the whole provincial garrison.”

Jamuroga was visibly encouraged by Lasiku’s optimism. He lifted his head up and said, “Yes sergeant,” with a confident grin.

“That is more like it,” Gain patted his shoulder once more. “Now let’s get these sorry jerks off on a run.”

Jamuroga called the squad to attention. He move aside as Gain stepped up to address them. “The vacation and self-pity party are officially over. You are going back to being a squad of “Dirts” like you were before. Everyone is starting over fresh. The past is gone, and it is time to move on. Get back to the locker room, get changed into your PT gear, and be back in formation in ten minutes. We're going to do a little six kilometer run.”

The squad moped about and did not move.

“What are you waiting for?” Gain screamed. “You just wasted twenty seconds. We are running eight kilometers. If you are not back her in nine minutes, I’ll add another three kilometers. NOW MOVE!!!!”

The men abandoned their lethargy and ran toward the locker room. Jamuroga smiled as he ran alongside Lasiku to get back to the locker room so they could get their own running gear on. I think that we are going to have a reason to feel proud again.

-End-

Japanese Kei Cars

2007-06-15T17:40:00.002-07:00

Many probably remember the invasion of the little compact cars that came to the States from Japan about thirty to thirty-five years ago. We Americans liked our big cars, but with the gas shortage of the late 1970's, the gas sipping compacts were viewed as a necessary alternative to the gas guzzling Cadillacs, Chryslers, and other "battleships on wheels" of the time. Many ridiculed the little compacts as unsafe and merely toys. Well, we did not get the "toys." The models that we still get even to this day are not as small as the ones that are sold on the Japanese domestic market. I am speaking of the micro Kei class cars. ("Kei" is pronounced just like the letter "K.")

These little cars were developed as a way for the immediate postwar domestic car market to take off. These cars are a good choice for a nation that has little space and high gas prices.

The Japanese government has regulated what can be called a Kei car. According to Wikipedia, the current regulations (adopted on October 1, 1998) are that a Kei car has a maxim length of 3,400 millimeters (133.86 inches), maximum width of 1,480 millimeters (58.26 inches), maximum height of 2,000 millimeters (78.74 inches), maximum engine displacement of 660 cc (40.28 cu. in.), and a maximum power output of 47 kW (63 horsepower). Almost every Japanese car manufacturer makes several models of this class every year. You can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_car to view a list of manufacturers and images of different models.

Here are some pictures of some Kei cars that I took while in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, in 2005.

The Aptly Named "Guppy"

The Daihatsu Naked

Another View of the Naked

Don't expect to see these little cars on US highways soon. They would be destroyed super quick the way we drive. Although many Canadians are turning to these little babies because of the current gas prices. It will be interesting to see how that turns out.

Tanabata

2007-06-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

Tanabata is a special ceremony that is celebrated in Japan on July 7 in some places, August 7 in others. It is based on an old Chinese folktale where the granddaughter, named Weaving Maiden, of the Queen Mother of the Western Heaven descended to Earth where she married a herdsboy. In Heaven, she wove brocades that her grandmother would use to decorate the sky. The were very happy and had tow children. He would tend his herds and she would weave. The Queen Mother searched for several months. When she found her granddaughter, she dragged her back to heaven. The herdsboy pleaded with the Queen Mother for her return, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Both of them became very depressed, so they did not work. He would not tend his herds and she would not weave. The Queen Mother became so irritated by this that she turned them both into stars. The herdsboy became the star Altair, and the girl became the Weaving Star (Vega). They were separated by the River of Heaven, the Milky Way. They were only allowed to me together during the night of the seventh day, of the seventh month of the old lunar calendar. On that night, all of the magpies in the world fly to heaven to form a bridge where the two lovers are reunited.

People write wishes on paper. They can be for health, studies, good health, prosperity in business, and a wide variety of other things. Sendai has a big fireworks display on August 5.

Review of Flashpoint

2007-06-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

Finally, someone has got it right. Frank Creed has done an excellent job of combining Biblical principles with outstanding cyberpunk action.

Some of you out there in cyberspace are thinking, “What is this guy talking about? What is cyberpunk and who in the world is Frank Creed?” Thank you for asking. Let me start with some basic definitions.

Cyberpunk is a sub genre of science fiction that was first started by William Gibson in 1984 with his book Neuromancer. It is usually dystopian in nature and tells of how humans and technology merge in such a way that it is almost impossible to tell them apart. (Burning Chrome and Idoru are two books that I recommend for anyone not up on the know about this genre.) The Matrix trilogy and the anime series “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” will also give you a good idea about what cyberpunk is all about.

The second thought-question was Who is Frank Creed? Frank Creed is the secret writing persona of someone must remain anonymous. (Twenty bucks each from a hundred people and I'll sing like a canary.) He is one of the founding members of the Lost Genre Guild, a group of brave writers who are bringing Christ to the world of speculative fiction. You can learn more about Frank Creed and his writings on his website: www.frankcreed.com.

His debut novel, Flashpoint, will be released in the autumn of this year, but I was blessed enough to get an advance copy for review purposes. Frank Creed takes us into the dark streets of the Chicago Metroplex (c. 2036 AD). It is a world that is ruled by the One State where the only recognized religion is the state. Fundamentalist Christians are the only ones who can stand up to this high tech fascist regime. The Body of Christ (BoC) are declared terrorists and sent to “Rehab” Wards if caught. Calamity Kid and e-girl join up with the BoC after their parents are arrested having an underground church in their home. They and the other saints risk their lives to rescue believers and non-believers from the clutches of the state's control. Along the way, they discover that the family was betrayed a Judas of their own.

The Matrix, martial arts, hacking, and Scripture are masterfully blended in this book to make a very interesting read. I liked it because the Bible verses are woven into the story in such a way that it is not slamming religion down the reader's throat. There is plenty of action. Some of the fight scenes could be a little confusing but they made it hard for me to put book down. I wished more of William Gibson had put more action into his novels. I find that the characters were believable and it was very difficult not to want to cheer on Calamity Kid as he fought against the uber bad guy in the last few chapters of the book. I was highly mad that the book even had to end. I wanted to see more stories based in this world. It was hard to leave. This is destined to become a cyberpunk classic.

Check out more about Flashpoint on Frank's site. (The first three chapters can be downloaded.) Go to www.lostgenreguild.com to learn more about Biblical speculative fiction and see how you can play a part in bringing more quality works like this to the bookshelves.

What Does "Hoshi to Sakura" Mean?

2007-06-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog in almost a year. Hoshi to Sakura is Japanese for "stars and cherry blossoms." I want to use the website to explore Christianity, science fiction, and Japanese culture, and just whatever crosses my mind. I will keep updating as frequently as possible.