Oblivion

Oblivion: A Novel Place to Live by Hank Bruce is a refreshingly wonderful book.
 It's part mystical, fantasy, historical, whimsical, and a hard book to put down and at the end you want the story to go on forever. It is a novel place to live, in that it's a different and unique town that also happens to be in a novel.

Oblivion is a ghost town in New Mexico. Belinda is a burned out advertising executive that leaves the office, buys clothes from thrift store, gets on a bicycle and rides away. On a whim when she sees an old faded wooden sign that says Oblivion decides to check it out. She meets Ben, who's an artist that lives a few miles away. They enjoy each other's company, spend the night together platonically and go their separate ways. Then the story gets interesting.
Ben has some friends who he tells about Belinda, they decide the only way he can get her back is to buy Oblivion, which just happens to be for sale. They grab some of his paintings and at an open air market make nearly two thousand dollars. He wins the bid and now owns a ghost town.
Belinda meets a woman who has mystical powers. The woman convinces her to come back to Oblivion and when a biker gang starts to harass them suddenly there's a thunder storm that drives the bad guys away and they go on.
The homeless in Santa Fe flock to the town, start cleaning it up and fixing up houses for their families. Scientists from the University of New Mexico decide to make a social experiment of the town and built wind turbines and solar panels for electricity. They built solar toilets that bake human waste into bricks that they can then use for fuel.
Naturally there's the rancher who was outbid for the town and offers thousands more for it, which is refused. He needs the town because it has the underground water he's been using for his ranch.
Meanwhile Belinda becomes a poet, Ben is not equipped to run a town. He just wants to paint.
An old Indian comes and takes over the spiritual side of things telling everyone that this is a town built around love. When the rancher tries to have his road crew block of the only road leading into the town, which is land he owns. The mystic woman sends a swarm of bees to drive them away.
A lot goes on in this book. It's not all peace and harmony in the town without proper structure. The rancher sees to it that government agencies snoop around and want to shut the town down for not complying with rules and regulations.
The plot is intriguing in and of itself, but Hank's prose and poetry is what really makes the book memorable. I'm reminded of Bridges of Madison County. The way the book was worded is what made the book.
This is definitely a book everyone should enjoy.

Batann Memorial Park

Bataan Memorial Park

I was waiting for a Walgreens pharmacy to open in order to get a prescription for my mother, yesterday. Across the street is Bataan Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Every year on Memorial Day there is a gathering of those few still alive who were in the Bataan Death March at the park. There are honor guards from different branches of the military present, speakers and the playing of taps.

This day there was a church gathering for an open-air meeting. A few guys were setting up boundaries for a game of flag football. A few people were walking their dogs around the edges. On the south side next to a circular wall a homeless man was sleeping on flattened boxes.

I ate a couple of Egg McMuffins, giving the last bite of each of them to my Jack Russell mix dog, named Sammie. The table where I was eating used to have a WWII five-inch gun, the barrel properly capped. Kids used to climb over it and use it like a jungle gym. I noticed a partial amphitheater on the south side that was facing north. To the side of the circle of benches were pillars of granite. It’s been there awhile, but not when I lived by the park.

I tossed the trash and walked Sammie to look at the pillars of granite. They listed the names of those from New Mexico who fought on Corregidor, the Bataan Peninsula and died during the infamous death march. The first column listed the names of officers. Then each column listed those who were from different cities in New Mexico: Clovis, Gallup, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque.

  I looked at each granite pillar, about eight feet high and the names etched on both sides. I found the names ending in S and checked them. I passed a number of columns until I found the name I sought. Spensely.

 I never knew him. It was the first time I knew his whole name. Tears filled my eyes as I was transported back to when we bought the house a few blocks away from the park in 1971.

It’s complicated

My father was finishing up his teaching degree at the University of New Mexico (UNM). My mother was a secretary in an insurance company. A fellow female student sat next to my father, and he was always a rather outgoing type of guy. Nancy Spensely was a former high school cheerleader and never met a stranger. She confided in Dad that she needed a job after she graduated as she was getting married. He knew Mom’s office was needing a receptionist. He told her to apply. She got the job.

Mom and Nancy got along well and gave her advice on planning the wedding. Mom mentioned that we needed a bigger house. Nancy mentioned after the wedding her grandmother would be left alone in a huge house and couldn’t take care of it.

We looked into buying the house from her, but at the time couldn’t afford it. For two years Mrs. Spensely waited until my father finished his student teaching and started teaching third grade. In the Spring of 1971 we moved into a three-bedroom, one bath, with a converted coal room as a basement house. It also sat on a quarter acre lot surrounded by huge Elm trees.

The house and neighborhood were built in 1926. My mother’s boss told her we didn’t buy a house we bought a project. While living there they reroofed, rewired, replumbed, replaced the gas heater, put in solar panels and a swamp cooler. They needed to cut down a few of the elm trees.

When moving into my bedroom, the first time to have a room without my brother, in the closet I got up on a stool to clean the shelf above the clothes bar. It was rather dusty. I came across some papers that were underneath the dust. Pulling them out I noticed there was an envelope and outside of it a telegram. I read the words, “The United States Army regrets to inform you…” the last name was Spensely.

I took it to my mother and asked what to do with it. It wasn’t like junk mail that got left behind. She told me where Mrs. Spensely was living, which wasn’t too far and to take it to her.

The kind lady waited two years for us to be able to buy the house from her and we thought the world of her. I didn’t want to bring up an old wound. It was thirty years since she received it. Would she want to see it again?

Putting the telegram into the envelope, I drove to her new house, nocked on the door. She opened it and I gave the envelope to her. She thanked me and I left. I never had contact with her again.

Memories of the Park

Back in that day, the park was just grass up to the curbs with a dirt track worn by joggers and the Duke City Dashers (girls track team before Title IX) who trained there. There was a flag and some flowers around it on the south side which was next to Lomas Blvd. with a plague giving the name. On the eastern side was a five-inch gun like the ones used by the battery division that was mostly made up of soldiers from New Mexico and Arizona stationed in the Philippines before Pearl Harbor. It was mostly a forgotten park.

I used to take Harvey, our German Shepherd/Collie mix and run around the park in the evenings and Saturdays. On Sundays before leaving for college I’d meet up with a bunch of other guys and played touch football. The summer I left for college I joined a pick-up game of football. A 440 runner from a rival high school lived across from the park. I was on his teem and he was the QB. I went out long and he threw it at me. I thought I was at the end of his range and waited for the ball to come down. It sailed over my head by ten feet and just kept on going. That’s when I remembered he was also the school’s quarterback. He never threw it my way again.

Across a side street on the east of the park was Russel’s bakery, where Dad would go every Saturday for donuts and coffee. Gil’s Runners World sat on the corner of Carlisle and Lomas across from the bakery,,Hallmark shop and ceramic shop that extended west from the bakery. My mother and sister would make ceramic pieces, fire them and bring them home.

 Around the corner was a small space that looked directly across the park. A fantastic lady opened up a children’s bookstore there named Trespasser’s William.

I left for college on a track scholarship in 1972. I’d come home over the summer and ran with Harvey to stay in shape for cross-country season. When I returned from exile in Texas (four years in Plainview and a year in Fort Worth), I met Gwen Shultz and her bookstore. She also sold science fiction and fantasy.

I was living at home and going through a divorce. Gwen sold me a few books by Harlan Ellison. The first one I read was Death Bird Stories. This has to be about the most disturbing and depressing book ever written. Ellison (may he rest in perpetual battle like he did in life) even put in a warning not to read it in one setting. It sounds counterintuitive, but Ellison put into words the emotions I was feeling and it lifted me out of my depression. I went crazy reading just about anything I could find by Harlan and have fallen far short of the body of work he did in his lifetime. See previous posts concerning him.

I remarried, started a family, became a teacher of English and History. While teaching 7^th and 8^th grade English. Gwen would hold book fairs and any APS school willing to let her come and show her children’s books.

She moved away from the park and the suffocating smell coming from the bakery. In the middle of summer and it’s 100+ degrees the aroma of baked bread is awful. There was a time or two I could only last a few minutes in the store. I don’t know how she spent 12 hours six days a week for years there.

When she would hold a book fair at my school it was always nice to stay in touch. I moved from middle school to high school and other than driving by her new location further up Lomas Blvd. she was off my radar.

My only other round about way of contact with the Spensely’s was my father-in-law. Mrs. Spensely’s husband was a dentist. He was the one who pulled all of Ed’s teeth and made his dentures.

When I retired in 2010, I started sponsoring a writer’s group for west side Albuquerque writers. Before starting one of the sessions a lady mentioned that Gwen Shultz passed away. She’d moved to Colorado.

My parents sold the house and moved across the river to the west side. My family followed shortly after. For years the park was off our radar.

Our house and the telegram were a distant memory. My son graduated from high school in 1999. He enlisted in the Air Force. While waiting for the paperwork and orders to come for him to leave for basic training, we watched Saving Private Ryan on video. I’d heard that the opening sequence was rather gruesome and it was. It was when the telegrams were delivered to Mrs. Ryan and she fell on the floor that the memory of a real one hit me like a ton of bricks.

It reenacted what must have happened when Mrs. Spensely received hers. My son couldn’t understand why I was crying at that scene. After we finished the movie I told him about it.

In 2012 after the attack on the twin towers there was a resurgence of patriotism. The city decided to upgrade Bataan Memorial Park and removed the gun, put in concrete walks around some of it and wood chip covered edges around others. They planted more flowers on the south side and added the amphitheater and pillars. They started holding events on Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Flag Day. I mostly knew about it from TV news.

Dad passed away in 2007. They were living in Texas. My mother returned to Albuquerque and bought a townhouse not far from ours. A few years ago, my mother sold the house and moved into independent living not far from the park. She gets her prescriptions there. I usually have to take her to pick them up or get them for her like this last Sunday. Normally its get in, get out. The park is just there.

This time I had to wait an hour and finally went to see the pillars. It struck me as I saw the name of a man who I died years before I was born, that he would still have an effect on me. Somehow knowing his mother and niece, living for years in the house he grew up in, and the memorial to him and all those who died some now 70 years later has given me a connection more than a name on a granite pillar or reading about it in a history book. The name of Homer V. Spensely has meaning and the sacrifice he made helped make the future for me and my family.

Leaving the church

Terry Austin, a fellow Wayland alum, he was '75 I was '76, and FB friend asked for someone to review his latest book. I've already reviewed another of his books. This one hits home with me.
As Terry says in this book (picture left), "I didn't leave the Church, the Church left me."
I'm going to post a review on Amazon, but I didn't want to intrude my thoughts on the matter there.
In the book Terry explains many years helping churches fund building projects. The term is stewardship. He came to the conclusion that buildings detract from the purpose and message of trying to reach the lost to Christ. Instead of all believers spreading the good news of Jesus as we are going; we simply ask them to come to church. Let the pastor evangelize them. He explains his growth in the Lord to see the difference in today's focus on building bigger and bigger churches as contrasted to the first century church with its emphasis on helping each other and loving each other in homes or public places.
 He goes into detail about the high cost of buildings in construction, maintenance, utilities, Pastor and staff. This doesn't leave much for helping the poor in the community. One of Christ's directives for the church.
His second major point is that this makes the church a business with pastor as CEO. The demands on the pastor to pay for the expenses and collect a salary have made the church more about entertainment than fulfilling the Great Commission. Pastors that can't bring in enough money are soon gone and another is given a shot, or the church dies. Rock star pastors have replaced shepherds.

Another of Terry's points is home churches. Leaving the brick and mortar and it's excessive costs for a close grouping filling the need for personal interaction. In essence becoming a Sunday School with a worship component. 

His chapter named: Country of Christ, speaks to the evil of politics in the pulpit. This led to the election by professing Christians voting in a man for president that is morally corrupt.

Where we disagree is when he laments Trump as president and that members of the church voted for and still defend someone of such low character. But he admits he could not vote for Hillary. As FB friends we've disagreed on this at length.
It's not in the book, but on FB he mentioned he couldn't vote for the lesser of two evils as it was still voting for evil. In the book he gives specifics on why Trump is unfit to govern our country, but he has no specifics on how Hillary was evil.
Seems to me if he's claiming she was evil and he couldn't vote for her there should be some reasoning for the basis of evil. To not have voted for Hillary was to allow Trump to be elected.
He may post a comment after he reads this and correct me on my reasoning. Getting into a debate with Terry is like playing him in a game of chess. Believe me he waxed me all over the board at Wayland on may occasions.
He raises an issued he calls Christian Dementia. Not just the SBC, but all denominations have forgotten their roots. What makes them Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist. What they stood for just twenty or thirty years ago, and not now.
I recommend this book to all. Don't get the impression that Terry or the many unchurched have left the faith. Home churches are springing up all over.
The home church I attended was formed to reach those who were damaged by the brick and mortar churches. We were able to minister to each other for a number of years, more so than a Sunday School class could. For people of faith, this is about the only option left.
 

RIP Harlan Ellison

Harlan Ellison died 6/27/18. I posted about him a number of times. He greatly influenced my life and my writing.

Comment

For some reason when I want to post a comment on Berthold's blog an error message comes up. His latest post was about Napoleon. One of my favorite subjects. I enjoyed that the post pointed out that Napoleon was defeated more by economics than bullets.
My take:
A. The Napoleonic wars saw a clash of two elements of war and two theories of economics.
The wars are sometimes referred to the "War of the elephant and the whale." Both animals are dominant in their domain, but can't fight with each other. The result of the war led to the book by Mahan's book "The Impact of Naval Power on History" which credits most wars being won by the navy over the army. Most major wars since Napoleon have been won by naval power, but the carnage on land still continues.
B. Economic theories:
Napoleon and most of the wars previous to this were about conquering land. Wealth was made by the winner by pillaging and looting the conquered, taking slaves for sale, and making the conquered pay tribute. Napoleon was a master at this. The cost in lives on both sides didn't matter. The more battles he won the greater his fame, no matter how many French lives were lost. He's still a national hero.
England defeated the French in the Seven Years War, What we call the French and Indian War, here, with the Bank of England. They fought the war on credit using future taxes as collateral. Unfortunately for England was they tried to pay off the loans by taxing the American Colonies and wound up losing more money than they gained and the colonies as well in the American Revolution. England was able to fight Napoleon for so many years by building a national debt. They built a formidable navy, well trained army and bought allies to fight Napoleon on land.
England defeated Napoleon with two naval battles: The Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar. From that point on they no longer feared invasion and replaced the trade lost from Europe with trade with Europe's colonies throughout the world. Making even more money than the lost by the embargo with Continental Europe. The black market helped too.
Wellington and the English win at Waterloo didn't happen in a vacuum. Welling spent years destroying French army and French army in the Iberian campaign, which Napoleon likened to a drain sucking his soldiers away. Arthur Wellesley was sent to Portugal from India with British East India troops to support the guerillas in Spain. It's this war where the term guerilla warfare come from. It's Spanish for "little war." As his victories mounted Wellesley became the Duke of Wellington. He faced every French marshal. Napoleon never went into Spain.
An aside, The battle of New Orleans was a victory for Andrew Jackson and the Americans. The army that was defeated here, arrived back in England as Napoleon escaped. This army was the bulk of Wellington's forces at Waterloo. They redeemed themselves with a commander who knew what he was doing.
Berthold, never get a history teacher started on a subject like this unless you want a four hour lecture.

52 storis in 52 weeks.

https://phillipmccollum.com/52-short-stories-in-52-weeks/

Check out Phillip McCollum's work. Hat tip to Bethold Gambrel.
I'll post more when I get through them. Might try something like this too.

The Americans, on Fox

The Americans on Fox TV is in its final season. It's an interesting premise. Two Soviet spies who were raised and trained to fit in to the American lifestyles and conduct clandestine missions. Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings come to the United States in the 1960's. Their marriage and identities were arranged by the KGB. They have handlers who speak about directives from "Control."
The story picks up in 1981 with Reagan as president. They live in a nice suburban house, have a travel agency business and on the sly bug Casper Weinberger's house and steal state secrets. It's like the movie The Saint on steroids. The two operatives change looks like other people change clothes and it's amazing what a wig, fake facial hair can do the make you think they're someone else.
What makes the story interesting is that across the street from the Jennings an FBI agent (Stan Beeman) moves in with his family, and what are the odds? He's just come in from undercover and is now in counter surveillance. He's trying to catch soviet spies while living across the street from them.
This is the final season and there's now way I want to recap all of them.
It was almost like Dexter, where you root for a serial killer. How can this couple who are undermining the United States be the good guys?
Then there's a story line whose arc hits you between the eyes.
Agent Beeman follows a newly arrived member of the Soviet embassy as she visits places in DC. Nina Sergeevna Krilova, is a clerical worker, low on the totem pole. She visits a pawn shop regularly and buys electronics: VCR's and the such. The amount of items is more than one person would need, so they check with the shop owner and discover she's paying for them with Caviar.
Beeman picks Nina up and blackmails her into getting him secrets from the embassy or he'll tell her bosses she's she shipping contraband to her family back in Russia.
It doesn't take long until Agent Beeman starts sleeping with her.
KGB officer, Arkady Ivanovich Zotov, starts noticing that their secrets aren't secrets anymore and discovers Nina passing information to Beeman. Instead of sending her back to Russia, which is a death sentence, he uses her to pass on misinformation and get intel on Beeman.
Nina is a tragic figure here in that she's in the clutches two ruthless men, both sleeping with her and walking on a razor's edge to stay alive.
Eventually Nina is found out and Arkady can't save her. Beeman tries to get her to defect, but she's sent back to Russia.
Arkady's father is a top minister in Russia and he uses him pull some strings to try and keep Nina alive. In prison Nina's turned into an informants of the other prisoners. She gets better food, but her usefulness doesn't last long. She's released from jail and given an assignment to help a scientist working on stealth technology. The scientist was a Russian defector that was working in the aerospace agency. The Jennings kidnap him and send him back to Russia. Nina is supposed to seduce him so he'll cooperate in developing stealth technology. He talks Nina into smuggling a note to his family in America letting them know he's alive. She gets caught.
Arkady comes back to Russia to pull even more strings to get her out of prison, hoping that at least she'll be sent to Siberia. The day comes where she's taken out of her cell by three guards and marched to a man sitting at a desk in the middle of a hall. The man reads off her indictment then says she's been found guilty of sabotage and the sentence is death. Two of the guards grab her arms and the one behind her shoots her in the back of the head.
This was a shock, I really thought that she'd be sent to Siberia because of all the stings Arkady was pulling. It brought home how ruthless and awful the Soviet Union was and Russia today isn't much better.
There are a number of missions the Jennings carry out believing they are protecting Russia from our aggression, but Nina's story tells you different.

My love/hate with horror

My friend Berthold Gimbrel mentioned in his review of Human Sacrifices that it has elements of horror, and it does. but I have always avoided horror movies and fiction. With me it's cognitive dissonance.
When I was growing up my brother loved to watch shows on TV like Hitchcock and Suspense Theater. Most of the time they didn't bother me, but I remember to this day an episode named Room 13. I was about eight years old at the time.
The 30 minute story involved an archeologist checking into a hotel in Italy. He was in room 14 and noticed there wasn't a room 13, the manager explained they didn't use the number 13 as it was bad luck.
The manger knowing the guest's reputation asked him to look and a metal box he unearthed. In the box was a metal conical helmet and a skull. The archeologist told him this was a form of execution for treason in ancient Rome. The victim had the helmet placed on his head while it was red hot and after he died was decapitated. His body was burned and they buried his head in the metal box so he couldn't travel to the underworld. The manager leaves and the guest goes to bed. In the middle of the night there is this unworldly screaming going on waking everyone up. It was a musical scream of "I want my head back." Outside on a wall there's a shadow of a figure wavering back and forth. The archeologist goes into the hallway where other guests are wondering what's going and when he looks the room where the noise if coming from is Room number 13.
The show broke for a commercial and I freaked. My brother wanted to see the rest of the show and I left the room, but the sound of that scream when the show came back on made me freak again and my mother took me next door to an elderly couple that was always nice to us and I stayed with them until the show was over. I don't know how the story ended and don't want to. It scared the hell out of me and at that age wasn't a good thing. What scared me was the sound, not anything visual.
Not many other tv shows or movies imprinted on my mind like acid as that one show did. I mostly avoided watching them.
The only other time I was disturbed by a movie was when my then wife and I went to see Bambi. Stop laughing. Imagine you're in small town Texas at the only theater for twenty miles and it is filled with children. The lights darken and the previews of coming movies start to roll. A man walks up to a chainsaw and starts it up. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It showed a man popping out bushes and slicing into a man, then it jumps to a woman being picked up and camera does a close up of a meat hook. I wonder how many parents were awake that night with screaming kids because they took them to see Bambi?
I didn't have kids at that time, What I had to do that night was go to work. I was a security guard at the Jimmy Dean Meat Packing company in Plainview, Tx. From 11 at night to 7 in the morning. The clean-up crew left at midnight and I was all by my lonesome until around 6am. Every hour I made a trip with a time clock walking through the area of meat grinders, meat hooks, weird noises going off at all time from the various refrigeration machines, out the back to a storage shed to check on a water gauge, then past the hog pens with ghastly noises of the soon to be sausage and back to my guard shack. Each round took about ten minutes leaving me 50 minutes to study. Perfect job for a college student, until that night. A week later I switched to the 3 to 11 shift.
What bothered me the most about that movie, was the title. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I was living in Texas.
I've never had nightmares over something I've read. I'm not interested in most horror stories. I started reading Edgar Allen Poe in 7th grade. When I was teaching 7th grade English I was disturbed that I had to translate every other word to my students, and they found him boring. I've never been a fan of Stephen King. I watch Carrie when it first came out and thought it was silly even having to resort to the gotcha false scare of a hand coming out of the grave. Until reading Berthold's blog I never even heard of H.P. Lovecraft.
When I was going through my divorce, a wonderful lady named Gwen Shultz opened up a book store across the park where I walked my dog named Trespasser's William. She sold children's books and Sci-fi. I'd been reading 1000 or more pages of theology a week and was suddenly no longer a student. She turned me on to Harlan Ellison. The first book I read was called Death Bird Stories. It comes with warning that the subject matter is too intense to read in one setting. It's a short story collection and the first story The whimper of Whipped Dogs. Stops you cold. Mal, the trees in my novel Human Sacrifices was inspired from this story. The amazing thing about these stories are that they're not horror so much as they are depressive. Amazingly being in a very deep depression as the life as I knew just exploded. These story's were cathartic. By the time I finished the book I felt better. One story' title says it all: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Ellison got a Hugo award for that one. I became an avid reader of just about everything he's written. I can't recommend to anyone who reads this blog how much it would benefit you to read his works. Many of them are out of print and are collector's items. Not many are e-books and they're not cheap.
Well enough rambling about what went bump in the night for me.

Human Sacrifices

Blogger friend, Berthold Gambrell, wrote a review of Human Sacrifices. You can find it here.
I asked him as a quid pro quo for the review of his book The Directorate. He gave me some valuable insights. I wanted to get a fresh set of eyes on the story. I published it on Kindle in 2012 and it's due for a rewrite.
Most of the story gives my thoughts on the three things that should never be discussed at Thanksgiving and Christmas family dinners and parties: Sex, politics and religion.

When I was writing this story I posted each chapter on a different blog. I got feedback from a number of blogger friends. That when the blogger universe was much bigger than today. I came to a natural ending after Jan conquered her demon, but many of the writers wanted me to continue the story. I inserted an interview, but it doesn't fit. The woman in the story is based on a teacher that I knew. She was the assistant to Georgia O'Keefe before the artist died. The gal was looney tunes. I think now on the rewrite I'll delete that, maybe turn it into a separate story.

When I left off on HS, Obama was president and politically I thought things had stabilized. Now with the moral mafia having elected Trump there's a lot more I can add to it.

Ruined Chapel said that my female characters were "sex-crazed." That's a bad thing? Just kidding.

Since I wrote this I touched on marital rape, as that was in the news at the time. Since then much has come up about "rape culture" and recently with an Alabama candidate for the senate--pedophilia sanctioned supposedly by God. I'll expound upon that.

In today's world Sex, politics and religion have merged into a toxic brew. It is my desire to enlighten my readers to help them understand what's happening.

The Directorate

Longtime blogger friend, and about the only one I have left, Berthold Gambrel https://ruinedchapel.com/ has released an e-book on Kindle. I've always enjoyed his writings and he's graciously expressed his gratitude on his blog concerning my suggestions in his acknowledgments sections.

The Directorate is a plausible science fiction story set in the 23rd century when humanity has expanded to colonies on Luna, Mars and are building a space station connected by a space elevator on the moon Ceres. There is plenty of time between now and then for technology to reach this potential. The conflict between the three planets is also probable as rivalries would naturally exist between the three entities. (I know the moon isn't a planet, but it's easier to describe this way)
The setting is that after an interplanetary war The Directorate was created to preserved the peace and form a central government. A security force  was created comprising members from all three planets. They reason that integrating all the planets soldiers this will ease the tensions brought about by the previous war. There's also a mega corporation that invented most of the technology making space travel and colonization possible that has become the controlling voice in the Directorate.
The protagonist is Lieutenant Gannon from Mars. She is in the guard in what is supposed to be a time of peace, but a faction known as Earth Firsters begin making trouble. They want Planet Rights!
At first there are small terrorist attacks that escalate to an attack on Mars. There are traitors that subvert the security from within, a bumbling bureaucracy slow to respond to an existential threat, a too big to fail corporation controlling the economy, and government, plus a kick ass hero.
The story is plausible because Berthold shows an understanding of human nature, knowledge of corporate greed, as well as engrained fossilized government stupidity.
To make the story work there is a lot of backstory to set the stage, but he breaks this up throughout the story so it's not like reading a history book. Berthold is not breaking new ground on the science as the technology is pre-Star Trek. This makes it more believable. It's fast paced and reaches a satisfying ending.
Now for the teacher in me to give advice. Ruined Chapel, accept it or reject it, but it is offered in the spirit of helping your writing to improve. You've grown over the past few years tremendously and this book is by far the culmination of your hard work on the craft. It will only get better.
Here goes:
1. Your villain and the terrorists. By telling the story from only Gannon's point of view, or that of narrator on the backstory the reader only gets a glimpse of why they are revolting. They're point of view needs to be given throughout the story. By the time the villain tries to recruit Gannon its too late. I think you realized this when you have him voice why he hasn't killed her. His answer is a bit lame. But if when they were on Mars and she was under his orders you switched to him and gave us his thoughts concerning her and wanting her on his side, maybe even a romantic interest he needed to suppress for the mission... Get my drift?
2. If your going to extrapolate from States Rights to Planet Rights you need to tell why they feel the Directorate has wronged them. You could include collusion with Luna and Mars instead of making it just spoiled grapes on the part of Earth. Even have Luna and Mars units in the revolt, which would make the villain's attempt at converting Gannon to the cause more plausible. You don't have to mention the students at this time.
3. The villain's answer to the students was to kill them. He explains what's happening. The theme here is great. By taking away Literature and history the Directorate is trying to make human robots. There's a reason why those two subjects are called the humanities. The all work and no play aspect could be expanded. After the battle on the space station you could have Gannon, knowing what the directorate is doing and wanting to change this in different way than extermination she could expound on how she plans to instill humanity into all the students.
4. By taking the student she's befriended to her home on Mars before reporting to Luna with her report. This is Gannon's first break with discipline and duty. After the surviving students are moved to Luna and her friend has learned more of what it's like to be human instead of programmed science geek, she can be the virus to enlighten the other students. Wow that's a whole new book. I hope I haven't jumped the gun if that's what you're already planning.

I know your baby is out in the world and it's hard to leave it and go on to another project. The beauty of e-publishing is that you can revise and correct if you're so inclined. My suggestions may help with future writings. I want to say again this a is a really really really good book. Well Done.

PS, I've submitted a review on Amazon, but it might not show up. You mentioned me in the book and when one of my reviewers I mentioned in another book his review of Optimus was removed. Amazon is getting picky on reviews.

Some books I found and like

Here's a few authors I've discovered on Kindle that I've liked and recommend to my few remaining readers.
.
1. Tony Roberts:
A. Best author I've come across since Harlan Ellison. He's continuing the Casca: The Eternal Mercenary series. He puts out one a year and takes about a day to read. His historical settings are accurate and descriptions of battles interesting.
B. His Chronicles of Kastania series, (now up to book 5) is his crown in glory. I don't know how he has a fictional empire with enemies on all sides and traitors within and can make every character from diverse backgrounds unique and come alive. He has a race of witches that I find most intriguing. I dub them sexual amazons. I devour these books and long for the next one. Just as Isaac Asimov used the Roman Empire as the basis for his Foundation series of books. Roberts is recreating and in many cases explaining everything that went on in the Byzantine Empire. An absolute don't miss series of books.
C. Chronicles of Faerowyn series. This one is more like Tolkien. It has light elves and dark elves, humans, trolls, monsters etc. It's now on its third book and immensely enjoyable. The main character is Faerowyn, a half dark elf and human on a quest to find her father trailing his bread crumbs to take over the clan and reclaim the crown of the dark elven kingdom. It sound rather simple, but like all great quest stories the journey is filled with lots of excitement. This is the best pure fantasy series of books I've read in a long long time.
D. Siren Series. So far 2 books, but number three is in the works. This series caught me by surprise. It's so totally different. It's about an actual British rock band and tells their story from inception to the lead singer's collapse and near death. The third book is eagerly anticipated to find out what else happens.
I don't know how he does it, but he's churning out four books a year and all are first rate. I hate to admit it, but though the quality of his Casca books is not an issue, but with nearly 50 books in the entire series and he's written nearly half of them, they all pale in comparison to his other works. It's not the writer just the Casca series is becoming dated.

2. Olan Thorensen: He's come up with a series of books adding elements of Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, James Clavell's Shogun, and Barry Sadler's Casca: The Eternal Mercenary. Which is quite an accomplishment.
The main character is Joseph Colsco, who is on a plane to give a speech on chemical engineering. A vessel from mysterious alien's called watchers collide with his jumbo jet and he's the sole survivor. They patch him up, using nanotechnology, and since he can't go home as he knows too much they maroon him on a planet in another galaxy. The watchers tell him that another alien race have over the centuries relocated humans to this planet so he won't be lonely. The technology on the planet in around the 1700's making his knowledge of technology a useful way of surviving, just so long as he doesn't run afoul of their religion and get burned as a witch.
He placed on an island being invaded by an evil empire from the nearest continent and I don't want to spoil the rest of the story. There are four books so far. They're well written and kept my heart pounding on numerous pages.

3. William D'Arand: If you're into gaming, this may be a good series for you. I'm not much of a gamer other than exercising with Wii.
1. He has an Otherlife series. I've read the first book and it was intriguing. Kind of like Tron, and the holograms of Star Trek series, Runner, the main character, is on long voyage and the crew get trapped in their game. He has no memory and he has to rise in class to get some of them back. He's able to access a portal that gives him his status and then fights various elements to gain points. He's the only officer left on the vessel and his quest is to rise enough in levels to regain the password to control the game and save the ship. I read the first book and am willing to read the others, but they aren't available on KDP for free. A number of authors do this, they tease you with the first book and then expect you to pay for the others. It has to be a super duper great read really waning me to read more before I'll do that, and this series doesn't fit that bill.
2. Super Sales on Super Heroes: This isn't about gaming, but the pup up windows with different abilities is similar. Here abilities are bought with points accumulated in various ways.
The society has super heroes and villains. A super villain has taken over a city and has destroyed most of the heroes. Most vices are legalized and slavery is legal.
The main character is Felix, who has a small ability of being able to change objects. He's managing a fast food restaurant and wants to rise up so he tries to buy something he can change into gold. He buys a near corpse of for super hero. His ability lets him restore the hero to life, and then he goes out and buys more. It gets really interesting when he buys and restores a beastkin that's a werewolf that can transform into numerous incarnations. Fortunately the second book was KDP and it gets even better. Waiting for the third one.

Martin Luther part 4 -- 95 Theses

After learning what Tetzel was doing to milk the people out of their money and giving only a worthless piece of paper in return; he was angry and needed to speak out. He wrote out 95 questions he wanted answered concerning the church's biblical support for indulgences. At this point he was only wanting to correct what he saw as error and mistakenly believed that the church could be persuaded to change this policy.
 Tetzel responded in writing refuting Luther's theses. His basic argument was that what he was doing was at under the authority of the Pope and he was only answerable to Him, and to question the Pope was to question God.
Luther responded that this wasn't an adequate argument. He insisted that the church show him from the bible that he was wrong. A number of other defenders of the pope rose up to denounce Luther.  The first of these was Sylvester Mazzolini of Prierio. They exchanged numerous letters with Pierio asserting the power of the Pope to be the only who interprets the bible. Luther maintained the power to interpret the bible belonged to the individual. Pierio went so far as to maintain relying on ecclesiastical law: "Although the Pope should make the whole world go with him to hell, he could be neither condemned nor deposed."
When Luther continued to quote the bible, especially on justification by faith, James Hochstraten, the inquisitor of Cologne, called for Luther's death. Luther responded by calling Hochstraten a raving murderer, blood thirsty man, and enemy of the truth.
His strongest adversary was a Johann Maier Von Eck. Doctor Eck and Luther debated at Augsburg. This was the first time Luther was required to travel and answer for  his writings. There was much haggling over a safe conduct. Frederick of Saxony guaranteed his safety. Politically Leo X needed Frederick to be on his side at first to keep Charles of Spain becoming the emperor and once he was emperor to keep Charles in check. Leo wouldn't do anything to damage the trust between them for a mere monk.
Eck was a master debater winning on points instead knowledge. This confrontation the church saw as a victory thinking that Eck defeated Luther by snide remarks, disdain and the point that hurt, comparing Luther to Huss. Many in the Empire had bad memories of the war caused by Huss. A number of the electors took sides against Luther. The general population saw things differently and became strong supporters of Luther. The scholars who were present became followers of Luther, many leaving their homes and traveling to Wittenberg to become students and attend Luther's lectures.
Luther's fame spread, his writings were changing thoughts across Europe, but the Saxon monk tried desperately to end the dispute. He wrote a letter to Leo X, declaring his loyalty to the church. The pope ignored it.

Next post will deal with the ultimate showdown between Luther and the Emperor Charles V.

Martin Luther part 3: Pre-reformers

Before I get into Luther's 95 Thesis, the book I'm reviewing mentions several men who made what Luther accomplish possible.

 Johannes Gutenberg: Without the printing press Luther's words and his challenge would have been only a local matter. Everything that Luther wrote and said was published and distributed through all of Europe. This was the major ingredient in the perfect storm of splitting the Church apart.

Desiderius Erasmus: Erasmus was a humanist, but his writings and work set the stage for the Reformation. He wrote against the excesses of the Church, but careful about getting too far under the Pope's skin. He compiled as many biblical manuscripts as he could find and buy and used them to compile a New Testament. It was these documents that Luther, and the King James scholars used to translate the bible into the vernacular (common language).

John Huss lived in Bohemia, modern day Czech Republic. He was a follower of John Wycliff of England. The Catholic Church of this day was divided between two Popes, the one in Rome and the other in Avignon, France. Alexander V in Rome controlled Bohemia.. Huss preached from Wycliff's writings and fought against Indulgences.
When the Church brought charges against Huss, he was given a Safe Conduct to attend his hearing. After he was condemned the safe conduct was revoked and he was burned at the stake.
His major crime was wanting to translate the New Testament into the Czech language.
Bohemia rose up in revolt and the Pope launched a crusade. A war was fought and the area was allowed to continue to follow the teachings of Huss. The teachings of Huss and the manner of his death would play a significant role in Luther's life and the Reformation.

Girolamo Savonarola lived in Italy and became significant in the city of Florence during the Renaissance. I used to tell my students that every party has an equal and opposite party pooper. The De Medici's ruled Florence and were patrons of the arts to some of the greatest artists of all time. There was money to lavish on splendid mansions and to decorate it with fine art. Quite a party. Then came the pooper: Savonarola was a monk who condemned the Medici's and the Pope for it's corruption and the sin of usury. The common people flocked to his sermons and rioted against the Medici's forcing them to flee for a short time. Condemning the sin of vanity by displaying artwork considered sinful countless masterpieces were piled in the plaza and burned in what he called "The bonfire of the vanities." He also burned people. After a while Alexander VI had enough of him and he was burned.


When Martin Luther posted his 95 theses, the last thing on his mind was defying the pope or breaking away from the church. The pope looked upon this attack on indulgences as a personal attack on his authority, which as the church taught was derived by God and the only the pope speaks for Jesus. Savonarola and Huss were prominent examples of how far Rome would go to preserve it's authority.

The issue--indulgences

Enter stage left the villain: John Diez or Tetzel. He was given the commission by the Church of Rome to raise money in the Holy Roman Empire with indulgences. The purpose was to rebuilt the Basilica of Saint Peter. Tetzel was a con-man of the first mark. He had a traveling troop with guards, wagons of tables, chairs and other props, and casks to be filled with coin. In each village or town he would set up shop in the square and on a pedestal preach that for only a few coins all the people's sins could be forgiven in the past, present and future. He then preached about the pain and agony of their deceased loved ones suffering in Purgatory and if they really loved them they would buy an indulgence for them too.
Here is an example of an indulgence:

May the Lord Jesus Christ have pity on thee ___________ and absolve thee by the merits of His holy passion! And I by virtue of the Apostolical power that has been confided to me, absolve thee from all ecclesiastical censures, judgements and penalties which thou mayst have incurred; moreover, from all excesses, sins, and crimes that thou mayst have committed, however great and enourmous they may be, and whatsoever cause, were even reserved for our most holy father the pope and apostolic see. I blot out all the stains of inability and all the marks of infamy that thou mayst have drawn upon thyself on this occasion. I remit the penalties that thou mayst have drawn upon thyself on this occasion. I restore thee anew to participate in the sacraments of the Church. I incorporate thee afresh in the communion of saints , and re-establish thee in the purity and innocence which thou hadst at thy baptism. So that in the hour of death, the gate by which sinners enter the place of torments and punishments shall be closed to thee, and, on the contrary, the gate leading to paradise of joy shall be open. And if thou shoulst not die for long years, this grace will remain unalterable until thy last hour shall arrive,
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Friar John Tetzel, commissary, has signed this with his own hand.

This backfired on Tetzel once. A Saxon nobleman mentioned he wished to take revenge on someone and wondered if an indulgence would let him get away with it. For 30 pieces of silver he was given an indulgence. As Tetzel was leaving the city the nobleman and his retainers beat Tetzel and stole his chest of coin. When Tetzel took him to court the man pulled out his indulgence and was set free.

Numerous princes and electors in the empire were dismayed at the fleecing of their peasants and draining their economy dry, but felt powerless against the Church.

Enter stage right the hero: Marin Luther.

Wittenberg was only four miles from the border, so many of the people in the area bought indulgences. While hearing confessions Luther encountered a problem. After the person confessed he told the person they must stop what they were doing. 'Sin no more.' The person then replied, I don't have to I have an indulgence.

Luther was incensed at this immoral document which would allow people to commit crimes and go unpunished and led them to believe they would go to heaven purchased by a few coins.

This is what decided him to challenge the doctrine of indulgences. When he left the steps of Pilate's staircase (mentioned in previous post). He broke with penance and indulgences for salvation. For the just shall live by faith, became his focus of salvation.
He wrote down his 95 theses and nailed them to the doors at the cathedral of Wittenberg. All 95 articles attacked the doctrine of indulgences. That was his focus, he did not want to split the church. He did want to challenge the Pope's authority. He wished to debate the issue and hoped by this to end such an evil practice.

My next post will cover the different councils Luther attended on the issue. 

500 years ago, how the world changed

Recently I've read this commentary on Martin Luther. It's only partly biographical as the author expounds and embellishes on Luther's thoughts. It is insightful.
Over years of teaching World History and as the Reformation is a chapter in the book; mention is always made of Luther and his break with the church. Indulgences were mentioned as well as Tetsel who sold them which angered Luther leading to his 95 Thesis. How the Pope and Church reacted which started the Reformation. That's about all a high school text will say.
Being born and raised Baptist, Luther wasn't mentioned much in church or Sunday School. When I went to a Catholic church for my sister's husbands' Christening; I noticed that a number of Luther's hymns were in their hymnal. I still wonder if Leo X is rolling over in his grave.
I began reading this book out of curiosity and put it down a number of times. It was written in French of the year 1846. It's not easy to follow and the guy does ramble on and on about how God was guiding him and making miracles happen for Luther to live past childhood. He recovered from a sword wound where he nearly bled to death and different diseases. At first this was irritating. Once Luther begins his spiritual growth and his writing stirs up lethal opposition, his mentioning God's intervention makes more sense.
Here is a condensation of what enlightenment I've obtained from reading the book. Or what I learned.
1. Luther's road to reformation: while on his sick bed and an aged monk reassured him with the Apostle's Creed where it states "I believe in the forgiveness of sins." It was this simple, yet profound belief that flew in the face of The Churches teaching on penance to work sins out of your life. That got him questioning all he believed.
2. The scripture that was to define his whole theology: Romans 1:17 NASV For in it the righteousness of God revealed from a faith to faith it is written, But the righteous man shall live by faith. [Habakkuk 2:4] Luther's thoughts centered around this truth the rest of his life: The just shall live by faith.
3. Luther's first break with the Church occurred when he visited Rome. As many in his day who visited the city for the first time he was appalled at the wealth and the depravity the priests, bishops and cardinals. While there the Pope offered an indulgence to any who would on their knees go up Pilate's Staircase. While doing this penance to receive absolution from sin, the words: The just shall live by faith, kept repeating in his head. The just shall live by faith. He rose up and walked away leaving the superstition of the Church behind him.
4. Luther's doctrine. This is the condensed version of what he repeated many times: "I...confess this article, that faith alone without works justifies before God; and I declare that it shall stand and remain forever...This is the true and holy gospel, and the declaration of me, Doctor Luther, according to the Holy Ghost. There is no one who has died for our sins, if not Jesus Christ, the Son of God...it is He alone who taketh away our sins, it cannot be ourselves or our works. But good works follow redemption as the fruit grows on the tree. This is our doctrine."

My next post will deal with Luther's battle over indulgences.

Broken a review

I knew Terry Austin for three years at Wayland Baptist College (now University). He used to wax me all over the board in chess regularly. In the past few years we've reconnected by facebook. There are some good things about social media.
I was intrigued when he posted his latest book, pictured left. He has a prologue and epilogue explaining the book. The rest is in the words of Erik Daniels.
Terry explained why he agreed to work with the man who was in essence making a death bed confession of truly horrible crimes. The man was a sociopath. His entire life was pure freudian "id." Terry said he wanted to portray him as a "sympathetic protagonist" similar to Walter White in Breaking Bad. I found sorrow in Erik's life, but not sympathy. In my perspective Erik is an object lesson.
Walter White is fictional. The crimes Erik committed had real life victims. Walter White had a purpose and reason for his actions--to leave money for his family after he was gone. Erik existed only to satisfy his basic needs and he would harm anyone who got in his way.
Erik has a compelling story. I don't want to spoil it by providing too many details. As an object lesson his confession is a window into the mind of a career criminal. Erik sums it up by saying his life was "drinking and using drugs and he financed it by stealing." As crime escalates across our country there are countless Eriks doing the same thing. Knowing why the criminals around you do what they do may provide understanding, but not sympathy.
What I took away from the man's story is understood by "The Pursuit of Happiness."
When one is at the end of his or her life and looking back over his/her time on this Earth, did he or she leave something meaningful behind. Children, grand children, a happy marriage, or did he/she live a life of quiet desperation? Are they content in knowing they've lived a good life or bitter at what they think they've lost or missed?
Erik reached out for someone to guide him in telling his story as he was terminally ill and Terry answered him.At the end of Erik's life he found misery. He only recounts one instance in his life where he felt good about something, and that was when he was a child. In recounting his crimes he felt no remorse, his only concern was not getting caught. It broke my heart to read the hard life he lived as a child. No child should be so abused, but I found no sympathy for him as he embarked on a life of crime.

Death Penalty again

Susana Martinez, our governor, has started the crusade to reinstate the death penalty. When everything in the state is falling to pieces because of her mismanagement this is a convenient way to blow smoke up the electorates tailpipes.
About a week ago when Martinez brought the subject up, to deflect our multi-million dollar budget deficit due to her cutting taxes on corporations. TV polls showed the state split down the middle.
Two days ago a ten year old girl was brutally murdered. It's about as bad as it gets. Three people were arrested, one being the girl's mother. Yesterday in her grandmotherly pose, Martinez in one sentence gave the usual politician's lament about a tragic loss of life and in the next one called for reinstating the death penalty. That day's poll showed 97% were now in favor of the death penalty.The police chief was interviewed and mentioned that four police officers have been killed in the state in the last three years and the need for the death penalty as a deterrent.
I work as a legal assistant. Politically the attorney I work for, he and I, are polar opposites. He voted for Susana. The one thing we are in agreement on is the death penalty.
One of his heroes and friend was an attorney who defended members of a motorcycle gang on death row in the 1980's. His investigation found the man who committed the crime and they were released. The person who committed the crime was not given the death penalty, he didn't even get life.
Naturally in over six years working together this topic has come up many times. When I was writing my Fan Plan Trilogy a sub plot dealt with the death penalty so he gave me invaluable advice.
We both have different reasons to be against it. The one argument against capital punishment we both agree on as the most compelling is found in Scott Turrow's book Ultimate Punishment.
My advice is to get the audio book. The prose is rather dry for reading for more than a thirty minutes at a stretch.
In true Sophist fashion he gives the arguments for both sides on every issue remaining neutral until the last page. All weighing in on this issue should read it.
In researching this book Turrow traveled the world and interviewed politicians and law enforcement in numerous countries for their reasons to have or not have the death penalty.
It was Germany that gives the most compelling of all reasons; when he asked why they don't have the death penalty the person answered: "We will never give the government the right to kill people again."

Seems to me with the nastiness in government going on at local, state and federal levels wouldn't it be nice to take the power to execute people out of their hands. I would definitely never want to see Susan Martinez with this power.

For Gilbert and Sullivan fans

https://ruinedchapel.wordpress.com/2016/05/20/the-very-model-of-a-charismatic-candidate//
Good friend and blogger has an interesting post, if you're a Gilbert and Sullivan fan check it out.

Private Bafoon has a great video

Russ Sype, who I was campaign manager of his Presidential run in 2012 is back to blogging and has some interesting stuff. Check him out. http://privatebuffoon.blogspot.com/

One Phrase Song

A One Phrase Song
By Patrick Prescott

I wrote a one phrase song,
Yes a one phrase song,
No really, a one phrase song.

On the radio all the songs are:
One phrase songs.
On tv song shows they're all:
One phrase songs

That's why I wrote a:
One phrase song
That's right a
One phrase song
Yes a one phrase song
Really, a one phrase song

I'll say it again
A one phrase song.
Everyone sings:
A one phrase song.
Will you sing along on my:
One phrase song?

One phrase song
A one phrase song
One phrase song
A one phrase song

That's all I have is a:
One phrase song
One phrase song
One phrase song
One phrase song
One phrase song

Sing it again, my:
One phrase song
One phrase song...