Category Archives: books

One of my favorite political books is coming back into print–actually, my only favorite for American politics

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A few blurbs:

Review
“When I was deciding whether or not to run for President as a Republican, I re-read Justin Raimondo’s Reclaiming the American Right and it gave me hope—that the anti-interventionist, pro-liberty Old Right, which had once dominated the party, could and would rise again. Here is living history: the story of an intellectual and political tradition that my campaign invokved and reawakened. This prescient book, written in 1993, could not be more relevant today.” — RON PAUL, Ten Term U.S. Congressman (TX) and 2008 Presidential Candidate

“Richly researched, brilliantly written, passionately argued. . . . A veritable Iliad of the American Right.”—Patrick J. Buchanan, political commentator, syndicated columnist, and author

Book Description
In recent years a number of conservatives have wondered where the Right went wrong. One persuasive answer is provided by Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement. Justin Raimondo’s captivating narrative is the story of how the non-interventionist Old Right—which included half-forgotten giants and prophets such as Sen. Robert A. Taft, Garet Garrett, and Col. Robert McCormick—was supplanted in influence by a Right that made its peace with bigger government at home and “perpetual war for perpetual peace” abroad. First published in 1993, Reclaiming the American Right is today as timely as ever.

The latest volume in ISI Books’ Background series, this edition includes a new introduction by Georgetown political scientist George W. Carey, Patrick J. Buchanan’s introduction to the second edition, and new critical essays on the text by Scott Richert, executive editor of Chronicles, and David Gordon, senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

The Prydain Circle

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Reading The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane has reminded me, by contrast, of how immensely great is Lloyd Alexanders’s Prydain series. The series is five books:

To repeat, the greatness of the books stands out to me all the more reading Robert E. Howard (author of “Conan” stories) about his “Puritan” hero, Solomon Kane. Kane is a phonetically aptly named rootless wanderer. He has integrity and he rescues those who need rescuing showing great courage. But he will defy the same odds for the sake of nothing but vengeance. And he has no family, no trade, no home as far as one can tell. He interprets his homelessness as some sort of calling of God on his life to be His vengeance. I don’t remember the narrator ever treating Conan (though I never read much in the original stories and that was decades ago) the way he treats Kane–by openly admitting that he is more or less insane. His unhesitating courage and questing is actually rooted in something other than piety and vocation.

When we are introduced to Taran in Lloyd Alexander’s books, we meet an imaginative youth who hates being an Assistant Pig Keeper. He wants instead to bear a sword and to go on high adventures with kings and warriors. (Warning a series spoilers follows, but I hopefully leave out enough that you will still want to read and enjoy reading the books.)

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Now that I’ve found you I’ll never loan you out again!

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Gene Wolfe’s tetralogy The Book of the New Sun is every bit as epic as Lord of the Rings, and perhaps even more creative. It follows the life of Severian who is exiled from the Torturers Guild for showing mercy and who, as he says, “backs into the throne.”

Wolfe’s story is set a million years in the future, far enough that the line between magic and technology is difficult to discern. The geo-political setting is that of the eleventh-century Byzantine empire, complete with a war with something that serves as a foil for Islam (as well as communism).

I could go on, but I’m not writing this entry to review the whole book or series (I’m saddened that FantasyLiterature.net only sticks to Gene Wolfe’s more recent material at the moment). I’m writing to brag that I found the version of the hardback that I “loaned” out in Oklahoma and never got back. I have now replaced it. Yay me!

I may celebrate by re-reading the series.

FYI, here is an unofficial fan page, and here is the blog that goes with it.

The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane

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I have said some really negative things about this book here. I still think they are true.

But I feel obligated to point out that, if you can overlook the problems, the book a really, REALLY F U N !

If you like the swords and sorcery genre at all, you should give Howard a taste. He may not be as literary as Tolkien, but he is just as much a father to the genre.

Urban Fantasy: a first glance

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I had read and loved Tim Powers’ fantasy stories set in the past of Reformation-era Venice, the Europe of the Romantic poets, the Caribbean of the Pirates, and a post-apocalyptic future. But Last Call was amazing. Set in a contemporary Las Vegas where gamblers’ must always have cigarettes in hand and drinks at their side as they gamble so that they can detect the moments when losing a tarot-derived hand would mean losing their souls. (The Las Vegas episode at the beginning of season 4 of Angel was a thrill to me just because it almost seemed like I was in Powers’ Las Vegas. One could easily imagine that his Bugsy would play tennis with a vampire at night.)

And it only got better with Powers’ next book, Expiration Date, where one discovers that most of the homeless in LA eat rocks because they are really ghosts–the continuing wave form of a once living human body–who are injesting material to maintain solidity. The lesser ghosts are trapped in Palindromes to be snorted by some addict, a participant in the city’s thriving underground ghost-drug culture.

There were things I missed about Powers’ earlier works, but these new ones really appealed to me. They opened up a new genre, urban fantasy. I have no idea when the genre really began. Perhaps it has really been around all along. But at some point, fantasy stories set in the contemporary world rather than in the distant past or on another world have become more popular than before.

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The anachronistic nihilist

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Since John Wright blogged about it, I decided to purchase a copy of The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane. I thought it might be OK at some point to encourage my boys to read.Don’t think so.For one thing, the racism about Africa is just too much to bear. Kane would never be a Nazi, and he would kill a Klansman without a second thought. But it is still just hard to read Howard on Africa and Africans. You can easily perceive this is the same era that gave us Tarzan and King Kong.

But, even more disturbing is the fact that the author, Robert E. Howard, killed himself at the age of thirty–partly out of grief over his dying mother, but also simply because, at that ripe age, he felt like he was past his prime.Wright blogs about a certain sort of pessimism in Howard’s vision…. Continue reading →

Buffy Season 8, episodes 1-5

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 1: The Long Way Home

What can I say about this?

One of the unique things about the TV show was that it made the writers famous. Part of that was the fact that it came into its own at just the right time to be one of th first shows to really take advantage of DVD with all the interview extras. But it still reflected the quality work of the writers themselves.

And the great writing continues. The comic book does not disappoint in the writing, nor in the quality of the story.

But it is insufficient.

No one just cares about the story when it comes to drama. It is fine when someone wants to make a movie or TV show based on a comic. That can work. But the opposite?

The actors matter.

Who goes to see a school play without any relationship at all to the actors? TV is different. Sure. But after a few successful seasons it is simply human nature to care about the craft of the people pretending to be the people in the story. You can make fun of fanboyism (and fangirlism–fanpersonism) all you want. But the only alternative would require that we all be uncaring apathetic sociopaths. We care about our performers. If that can be true for a single play, then the emotional intensity is exponentially greater in the case of a multi-season TV show. It can reach stupid heights precisely because of the power involved. You can’t watch someone at their work over an extended period of time and not care about them.

So, seeing a TV show transformed into a comic book really doesn’t satisfy. In fact, the better the story the writers give you, the more you feel sorry for the actors and actresses because they have been left out.  Why wasn’t Nick Brendon ever allowed to play a cool Sergeant Fury character?  It just seems unfair.

But the story seems pretty good.  It lets you know by the second page that all that stuff about Buffy and “the Immortal” was never true.  And, while it begins with a definite story arc, it also has stories (or at least one out of five, in this case) that is a standalone.

The situation is that Buffy is now the head of a huge underground organization of fellow slayers (after season 7 there is no longer one chosen one).  They have money and communications and technology like never before.  But the new situation attracts new enemies (as well as old who collude with the new).

(I’m half tempted to try to find who to ask to get the book deal that bridges from the end of season 7 to this episode.  The story begs for a prequel.)

It looks like it will be interesting.  Without giving anything away, the major issues seems to be power and paranoia.  Buffy has now unleashed a new order in the world, naively thinking this just means more help fighting demons, vampires, and other monsters.  But others understand that a new order is always a threat to the old order.

Usual caveats.  The level of morality is roughly that of Friends (or just about anything else on Television right now).  The magic is a lot more problematic than that of Harry Potter.

A couple of book announcements

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Long long ago I wrote a tract for my website entitled, “Why baptize babies.” I actually started to blog the content at one point, but instead asked the good people at Athanasius Press if they wanted to publish it. After making alterations and variouis edits, it was deemed suitable for publication and is now available. (As soon as the cover art is online, I’ll let you know.”

I wrote this to be the perfect, one-stop-shop, handy-dandy, explanation for why Reformed churches baptize the infants of at least one Christian. It is only $5.00 (and probably less if you want to buy in bulk. Give them a call to see if you can work something out.)

While the content has been tweaked, this is still basically the same essay that many have told me they found useful and that several churches have used. If you know any Christian struggling with this issue or with a friend who struggles, I think you will find this book helpful.

faithneveralone.jpgAnother book is also available, one to which I have only contributed to in a small way, but that also contains essays by excellent scholars and ministers like John Armstrong, Don Garlington, Peter Leithart, Rich Lusk, Andrew Sandlin, and Norman Shepherd. This is a response to a highly inflammatory and highly inaccurate book by Westminster Seminary in California. But with these quality writers, the book is worth getting for it’s own sake. (And, since you’re buying it anyway, you should take a look at my essay as well.)

Harry Potter world: what he said

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Tony Felich says some dismissive things about Harry Potter in light of the recent Dumbledore outing, but in the process says all that a Christian appreciator of the story needs to say.

I understand the age we live in, such “outings” of people are considered progressive and en vogue, but come on already. Can you imagine, In Lewis’ day, readers wondering about the sexuality of the professor because he’s single, living alone? How about the readers of Tolkein wondering about the sexuality of Gandalf (OK…never mind that one..)? But you get my drift. Such a decision by Rowlings is so boring and typical of our pop culture.

Pretty much it. Rowling goes into my Susan Howatch category of worthwhile liberal Christian authors, except that Howatch’s problems are actually in the stories. Rowling’s story is untainted. As far as I’m concerned, her opinion on Dumbledore right now is no more important than anyone else’s. It is like Ray Bradbury insisting that Fahrenheit 451 is not about censorship.

Sadly, for the movies, I think all bets are off.