literature

Book Review – Love Is the Way

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times

Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times by Michael B. Curry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Throughout my life, I was on and off religious, pretty much forced into The United Methodist Church when I moved to where I have lived since 1988. My family eventually stopped going, and I tread the line between agnostic and atheist for over a decade. I started going to a country Methodist church again with my parents circa 2006, then only my father. Given our eventual estrangement, however, I began to fully attend my town’s Episcopalian church towards the end of the last decade, given its reputation as one of the more liberal Christian denominations and my personal political and social liberalization.

African-American author Michael Bruce Curry has been the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America since 2015 (with his predecessor being female). He begins with the story of his ancestors, with his grandparents having been part of the Great Migration of Black America between 1916 and 1970. Curry touches on his family’s religious background, highlighting events like one of his grandmothers telling him when he was young after he mocked a zealous preacher, “You don’t laugh at anybody else’s religion. You respect the Lord however he comes.” His book features many excellent quotes from the Bible and historical luminaries like Martin Luther King Jr., such as, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

While Curry’s book has some fascinating factoids, such as his preaching at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, he becomes somewhat political throughout it. For example, he is critical of ex-President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policies, possibly citing Exodus 23:9 (“You shall not oppress an alien…”) and opposing separating immigrant families (largely shared then by both conservative and liberal Christian denominations). This issue is my main point of contention with his work, as I believe that following Man’s law is as crucial as following God’s, and that the Bible does not unequivocally endorse traditional family values, as seen in passages like Matthew 10:34-37 (which includes the statement, “Your biggest enemies will be the members of your own family”).

One needs also note that religions and their respective texts have been grounds for various atrocities and crimes throughout human history. For instance, Exodus 22:18 says, “Suffer not a witch to live,” a possible justification for the Salem Witch Trials, and others like Adolf Hitler probably had religious motivations for genocide, maybe, “Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10). As one who has suffered emotionally and psychologically at the hands of his flesh and blood, furthermore, I strongly believe that the blood of the Covenant is far thicker than that of the womb, would have gladly accepted alternative guardians, and have today found far more accepting nonbiological families.

Curry does mention far less polarizing political figures like the late Senator Robert Kennedy and abolitionist William Wilberforce, who helped peacefully end slavery in the British Empire. He further elaborates on his relatives, mentioning his comatic, then mute mother Dorothy, and his near-death experience when he got his head stuck in a couch. However, he succumbs at points to widespread theoretical nonwhite infallibility, mentioning the alleged innocence of the late black boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (with the 1999 biopic about him, for instance, having inaccuracy that would lead to one of his former opponents suing the film’s director).

The presiding bishop draws an intriguing analogy between the anti-apartheid priest Desmond Tutu and singer Dolly Parton. He further mentions the Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ namesake five stages of grief (which I believe can vary significantly as an autistic) and discusses bargaining with God. The bishop correctly points out that Anglicans/Episcopalians were once aligned with mainstream historical society and the Catholic Church on issues such as Native Americans and black slavery. Additionally, he engages in more political discourse, incorporating Dr. King’s insightful quote, “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning.”

Overall, while I agree with Bishop Curry on major social and theological points (for instance, nonheterosexual relationships and love, overall, “being the way”), I highly disagree with him politically (even despite considering myself more open-minded than I was during the 2000s). However, I don’t disagree with him to the point of many lapsed Catholic American politicians regarding the Pope (and in my opinion, they should instead be Episcopalian, given Curry’s perspectives and my view of Anglicanism as liberalized Catholicism). As a result, I skimmed over many portions, but genuine members of the rarely-mentioned Religious Left will adore his book. I identify more with the “Religious Center” and believe that in Christ, there is no Left or Right, just as there is no East or West, black or white, heterosexual or nonheterosexual, male or female, and so forth. 

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Mental Spring Cleaning

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

After struggling endlessly to read traditional textual books, I decided, for sake of my mental health, to stop, even though I was in the middle of a fantasy trilogy, which to me is no big loss since I didn’t really care about the characters, the setting, or whatnot, and the books will probably never be adapated to feature film, anyway. From now on, I’ll only be reading books that have been adapted into film or will be adapted into film, are part of series I genuinely care about and love (like Star Wars), graphic novels, comics, nonfiction books that aren’t puff pieces or hatchet jobs or in any fashion political or antireligious, and so forth. Decluttering my life in this regard has actually been mildly therapeutic, surprisingly.

The Legend of Whomper

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

The Legend of Whomper, Book 1

The Legend of Whomper, Book 1 by Chris Farrington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There have been times when I’ve often gotten burned out on traditional textual literature without illustrations, so I figured I would alternate between reading them and graphical novels like this by Chris Farrington, whom I highly respect as an artist in the furry fandom and had commissioned a few times in the past. The titular fox hero, Vulpie Whomper (who doesn’t look vulpine but is cute nonetheless), has trained for years to master the war hammer and embarks upon quests to prove his worth. Each chapter (one divided into two parts) follows his various trials.

Whomper’s first trial opens with his initiation into the Brotherhood of the Hammer, after which he must visit several secret cities and prove the supremacy of his order’s weapon. A thief curses him with kleptomania, and when he gets the curse lifted, he chases after the culprit following a visible knife symbol (though this is unclear) to deal justice. 

His second trial opens with guards of the Bridge to the Sky initially denying him entry, after which he must defeat a monster.

The third has him join Dextrose, a furred warrior whose specific species is unclear and seems somewhere between horse and kangaroo, as they battle slugs tormenting a town.

The fox’s fourth quest sees him seeking a town’s serial killer but ends without the said murderer subdued, Whomper needing to find another way to apprehend him.

In his fifth, he encounters a weasel thief ostracized by his fellow purloiners.

The two-part sixth quest sees him battling the slave-collecting Warmachine, piloted by two members of the vengeful Komodo Clan.

The seventh has him partner with a dragoness named Skyla Thornweaver, who remains with him for the rest of his adventures as they battle a new enemy, Gryzor.

Whomper’s eighth quest sees him and Skyla entering Brotherhood of the Arrow territory and battling pig-men bandits.

His ninth has Skyla kidnapped by a rodent princess, Grisella, whom he must rescue.

The tenth has Whomper going to a raccoon-populated city with a zombie problem, where he confronts Gryzor and the necromancer who created him.

The final chapter concludes the graphic novel with Whomper meeting a goat sage called the Edgemaster, under whom he begins apprenticeship after battling an ancient evil known as Xilix while having a final confrontation with Gryzor.

Overall, I found this a cute and enjoyable graphic novel, with my instincts about giving it a read well justified. While the animal characters are incredibly adorable (even if some of their species are vague, given the artist’s style), it isn’t one hundred percent family-friendly, given some occasional blood, albeit not excessive. Some plot points like that in the first trial seem to come out of nowhere, and the typical grammar and punctuation errors associated with standard comics abound. However, I highly recommend this graphic novel to those in the furry fandom seeking a fun and quick read.

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Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Written by Union Civil War General Lewis “Lew” Wallace, the first fictional work of literature blessed by a Roman Catholic Pope (Leo XIII), and the inspiration for numerous live-action and animated film adaptations, Ben-Hur opens with the Three Magi: Gaspar the Greek, Melchior the Hindu, and Balthasar the Egyptian, visiting the newborn Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. Twenty-one years later, the Roman Messala and the titular Jewish protagonist, Judah Ben-Hur, have a rivalry, with the latter being sent to galley slavery for life after a tile from a home whence he witnesses a procession nearly kills the new procurator of Judea, Valerius Gratus.

A few years later, Ben-Hur labors as a galley slave aboard a ship commanded by Quintus Arrius, who is fascinated by the young Jew and thus adopts him as his son. In Antioch, Judah sees Messala again and yearns to rival him in a forthcoming chariot race while hearing of a Messiah speaking of a greater kingdom, not of the Earth. The race transpires, but the results are contested, with northern barbarians dispatched to kill the Jew when he finds himself in an empty palace following the games. However, a maneuver involving his falsified demise allows him to escape.

Afterward, Pontius Pilate succeeds Valerius Gratus as governor of Judea, and Ben-Hur seeks his mother and sister, who went missing after the incident that led him into slavery in the first place. He eventually meets the prophesized King of the Jews, witnessing His miracles and returning to his former palace. Throughout the book, Judah befriends Balthasar’s daughter Iras, who talks of an escaped galley slave Jew who murdered others when they reunite. Messala’s fate receives its resolution, Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus, and the Messiah is crucified, having refused the throne of His ancestor David.

While I had read this around a decade ago, it didn’t very well stick with me, but I remembered some elements. However, I enjoyed Ben-Hur more with my recent reread. The historical and geographical tidbits indicate that Wallace did his research, with the names of the Wise Men and their respective countries of origin adding nice touches. I could well relate to the themes, within and without my Christian faith, and while there were many portions I somewhat skimmed, I could still follow the central plot well. Granted, much of the dialogue is awkward, such as “Unclean, unclean!” regarding lepers, but Ben-Hur is a must-read for any Christian book enthusiast.

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Chapterhouse: Dune

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Chapterhouse: Dune (Dune #6)

Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Frank Herbert’s final Dune novel before his death follows the action of Heretics of Dune, chronicling the continued conflicts of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood against the Honored Matres, who are attempting to control the universe and destroy factions and worlds that oppose them. In his introduction, Herbert notes the novel’s setting, over ten millennia in the human future, when women rule the Known Universe. The story begins with Mother Superior Darwi Odrade celebrating the birth of a ghola-baby (in other words, a clone) from an axlotl tank of the recently deceased military genius Miles Teg. Meanwhile, Great Honored Matre Dama, nicknamed the “Spider Queen,” tortures Reverend Mother Sabanda. 

Odrade enjoys seeing the cloned Miles at play, with the boy being trained in the military arts just like the original, as the Honored Matres plan to use a mysterious “weapon” to further their conquest of the universe. The Honored Matres destroy Lampadas, a center for Bene Gesserit education, with one of the survivors, Reverend Mother Lucilla, escaping with the shared minds of millions of Reverend Mothers from the past and finding sanctuary with an underground group of Jews. The Rabbi who leads them reveals a “wild” Reverend Mother named Rebecca, who has gained her Other Memory, a well of genetic memory, without formal Bene Gesserit training.

Duncan Idaho returns in ghola form like Teg, retaining memories from his previous incarnations due to being a Mentat. The time eventually comes for the assault upon the Honored Matres, with Teg becoming the Bashar of the military forces, and the tides constantly turn in each other’s favor. Throughout the story, the Bene Gesserit attempt to terraform the eponymous planet, Chapterhouse, to accommodate sandworms, given that the native homeworld of the creatures, Arrakis, had been decimated by the Matres. The story ends with a cliffhanger, which Herbert’s son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson would resolve with the final two chronological books in the Duniverse a score later.

In brief, Chapterhouse does have many positive aspects, such as Herbert’s trend (which his son would continue) of including various philosophical quotes at the beginning of each chapter, alongside the intricate outer space setting, discussion of ecology, and the presence of the Kindle X-Ray feature, which alleviates some confusion readers unversed in the franchise’s unique terminology and many characters may have. However, confusion frequently abounds regarding character ages (namely, the gholas), many lines and terminology are unclear, and it can be hard to keep track of who is talking in conversations given the infrequent mention of names and constant use of pronouns. Though not a bad book, this is one that readers will need to meticulously focus on while being incredibly familiar with the plots of its predecessors.

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Art Dump, 2/21/2024

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Today was the King of Norway’s birthday, so I AI-generated some bunny Vikings:

As for Harald V himself, here’s my interpretation of him in animal form:

I chose the Glechon dog breed since it’s the closest mammal name to House Glücksburg, and in my own stories, I try to have my characters’ names somewhat indicate their species.

I listened to an a-ha album and Das Rheingold (or The Rhinegold, the first of Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung opera tetralogy) while doing the art, most of the time. I would absolutely love to see the operas themselves since they were based on the same Nordic stories that inspired The Lord of the Rings, though only if they had translated English versions, similar to what a local community college theater had done with Mozart’s The Magic Flute back at the end of 2022.

Emancipation

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Emancipation: A Military Archaeological Space Adventure (The Zenophobia Saga Book 6)

Emancipation: A Military Archaeological Space Adventure by Craig Martelle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The sixth and final entry of Craig Martelle and Brad R. Torgersen’s Zenophobia series opens with a pre-prologue excerpt where Sankar, the Tigroid protagonist of the entire saga, recovers an old computer archive. The following prologue sees a robotic Swarm moving through outer space, with the main chapters seeing Sankar conversing with Colonel Callahan, a member of the fabled Ur-Race, who knows humans will be surprised by the existence of the zenos. Callahan provides his fleet of Confederation vessels, which Sankar’s love interest, Ausha, fears will conquer the zenos, regardless of whether they win the war against the forthcoming machines.

An outpost in the middle of space has zenos from the primary races in living conditions divergent from those on their homeworld, which the Devourers target. The adversarial Direwolf damages the Bilkinmore while the machines attack the Golongals on their homeworld. Sankar ultimately finds himself in alien surroundings, with a mystical cute responding to one’s genetic makeup introduced as a MacGuffin. A brief focus goes on an elderly Golongan woman named Bela (alternatively spelled Bella), who became tired of the Oligarchy and the Families, consequentially coming out of retirement.

Dekron becomes a notable enemy in the latter half of the novel as a female named Diio survives the wreck of the Direwolf when it crash-lands. Ausha, Sankar, and a random stranger named Zee find themselves in a collapsing building, having to deal with Dekron, who pleads for his life. One chapter features Maglor the Goroid surveying the decimated colony of Ommo and expressing his love for Olympus Alloy. On Golongal, Cho-Ma Continent’s Army contingent defects to the Golongan Peoples Revolution, while the stranded Diio tries to find help by taking another spaceship she happens to find.

Back to Dekron, he yearns to prevent his enemies from escaping, having his subservient robots chase them. Diio finds herself in the darkness, hearing a transmission implying that Ocklar could be going through torture. The fate of the Direwolf is settled, with Sankar and Zee rushing through the capital city of the planet Artemis IV, with Ausha’s life imperiled, but the cube is her possible salvation. A moment of limbo comes for Sankar, who eventually meets Pacjolal, after which the war against the machines concludes. The epilogue sees Sankar and Ausha on Earth, walking along a beach.

After finishing this series, I can honestly say that it fell short of my expectations since while I usually enjoy novels starring animal characters, all six stories suffer from most of the pitfalls that plague literature of its kind. That the collection doesn’t utilize the Kindle X-Ray feature greatly mars the experience, given the near-total absence of reminders of the species of the various characters or various terms and entities, along with the constant leap in perspectives within the same chapters. In the end, Emancipation is an appropriate title for the conclusion of the Zenophobia saga since I am glad to be free from reading it and will happily avoid anything the authors have written or will write in the future.

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Heretics of Dune

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

Heretics of Dune (Dune Chronicles #5)

Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When author Frank Herbert wrote his famous Dune series, he had nothing in mind for its success or failure, with the initial installment of his franchise having been the product of six years of research and a novel of ecological and human concern. Publishers turned it down twelve times before its official publication, with the author noting that he wrote parts of its sequels before the first Dune story. As with its predecessors, the penultimate entry of his series before his death contains various philosophical quotes commencing each chapter that provide good insights into the society of the Known Universe.

Heretics introduces the twelfth Duncan Idaho, a twelve-year-old, with Reverend Mother Schwangyu observing his behavior on planet Gammu, once Caladan. The Mother Superior Taraza effected the creation of the twelfth clone, with the Sisterhood dreading another Kwisatz Haderach, vowing not to take the clone to Rakis, formerly Arrakis or Dune. In the meantime, a girl from the former desert world named Sheeana Brugh learns to control sandworms, with the late God Emperor Leto II, fifteen centuries dead before the book’s timeframe, predicting a sandrider. 

Reverend Mother Taraza has a meeting with a woman who had borne nineteen children for the Bene Gesserit, Darwi Odrade, on the Chapter House planet. The latest Duncan clone gradually gains memories from prior incarnations, such as being a ghola, with backstory given on the Bene Tleilax, divided into Face Dancers that serve as mules submissive to Masters. Also introduced is the Weapons Master to Duncan, Miles Teg, who didn’t want to come on assignment to Gammu, but Taraza personally requested him, with background given on him as well like his wife’s death thirty-eight years past, and grandchildren through his daughter Dimela.

The eleven-year-old Sheeana has been with the priests on Rakis for three years and is interested in the planet’s desert environs. She befriends a worm and names it Shaitan, with her regular wormriding causing disdain among the clergy overseeing her growth. Miles Teg receives additional backstory, being a Mentat, with one of his earliest memories being a dinner with his brother Sabine, whom he adored. Time skips also occur sporadically, with Duncan turning fifteen. However, some inconsistencies appear, like a mention of him at a younger age than the twelve years he starts at.

Some familial revelations sporadically come throughout the story, with other characters introduced, like Tylwyth Waff, a Tleilaxu Master of Masters. Teg ultimately finds himself on the run from adversaries late in the novel. After I finished, I found this to be another enjoyable series entry; however, better definitions of unique terms like no-ships and no-globes, the former vessels that can turn invisible, would have been welcome. The novel further emphasizes human interest more than science fiction. Even so, it’s a good yarn, likely to be relished by series enthusiasts; however, newcomers to the Duniverse will likely want to start from the beginning.

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The Foundations of Trauma and How to Heal from It

Posted on by Remy St. Gallen

The Foundations of Trauma and How to Heal from It

I expressed interest in this guide from The Depression Project since I had experienced my share of trauma throughout my lifetime, especially when I accustomed myself to the World Wide Web as it was gaining ground, even before the widespread use of social media. The introduction defines trauma not as an event but rather as how an event overwhelms the body’s capacity to process what is happening. Part one details how to map and regulate the nervous system; chief nervous components include the ventral portion that dictates one’s presence, the sympathetic sector that focuses on mobility, and the dorsal area that involves emotional shutdown.

Part two assists readers in creating dorsal toolkits, opening by mentioning both negative physical and mental feelings when the area is in shutdown mode. Comfort activities can counteract shutdown, including diaphragmatic breathing, telling oneself grounding statements to remain in the present, and aromatherapy. The chapter further suggests techniques like mindfulness exercises (which encompass what one feels, hears, smells, and tastes), gentle mobility like stretching or swaying and connecting with others who register as safe for oneself. Other methods include finding positives in the current environment and journaling things for which one is grateful.

The third section aids the reader in producing a “sympathetic toolkit” to counteract situations like one’s system being mobilized by racing thoughts, with several viable strategies to help one restore their system to safety. The chapter suggests positively reframing racing thoughts and asking the golden question: “If a friend were in my position, would I be telling them the same negative things that I’m currently telling myself?” The book defines cognitive distortions as twisted thought patterns grounded not in reality but in bias, and filter thinking focuses solely on the negative. The final part focuses on anchoring oneself in a mentally safe spot.

Ultimately, I found this to be an illuminating read on overcoming past trauma and learned the critical sectors of the nervous system, alongside terminology for negative thought patterns. However, I was aware of techniques to counter negative feelings, like deep breathing and journaling. I also didn’t care much for the segments that involved providing answer lists in between subsections. As the guide further notes, not every strategy will work for every person; as an autistic, I often struggle with attempts to remember the multitude of methods to counteract whatever hinders my thoughts. Regardless, this is an insightful resource for those wrestling with post-traumatic stress.