I want to take the last half of this past week and chuck it out the window (defenestration FTW!) and start over.

For good news, though, the RRFS blog is up and thriving! Michelle posted today about Two-Part Outlines. We also have a Facebook page now. You should go like us!

June Goals:

1. Finish crit on TSB for Michelle.

This will be this week’s focus.

2. Get halfway through (new) Catalyst re-write.

This isn’t gonna happen. I’m devoting July’s Camp NaNo session (provided real-life doesn’t try to kill me between family coming into town, then my mom leaving town for a week. I may actually have to talk to/see my dad at some point *cries*.) to trying to finish a Catalyst re-write.

NEW #2 goal: Read through Catalyst and mark what needs to be changed.

3. Work on character charts for Undoing bk 2.

Going to try and start these today.

4. Read five books. (Excluding manga. Because I read manga like candy.)

Well, I made progress on this . Books read this month are:

Passing Time by Ellie Garratt
Snapshots by Patricia Lynne
Forged by Fate by Amalia Dillin

I will also be reading Guardian, by Heather Burch, this month. I read the first one in the series (Halflings) for the Debut Author Challenge last year, and the author contacted me about doing a review for the second book as well. I need to get on the ball, lol.

And hopefully I’ll actually finish Home from the Sea as well this month. I started A Wise Man’s Fear, but that is not going to be finished this month. My goal is to finish THAT one by NaNo. It’s almost a thousand pages.

I *ahem* may or may not have 7 volumes of D. Gray-man (manga) sitting on my shelf for me to read, as well. Those will be my reward for getting a little more progress made on these #WriteMotivation goals.

5. Get five posts pre-written for this blog.

COMPLETE! Three reviews, and two Sunday posts.

6. Get five more posts pre-written for RRFS blog.

I have the four finished posts (I just need to add pictures & schedule them), and the one I mentioned last week that is in progress (waiting on info from other people). I’ll be adding another blog post (or three?) this week, because of the little cheating incident I discovered over the weekend (some of you will have seen this on Twitter). It prompted an ethics discussion with the other Ferrets, and I have a new series (Ethics for Writers) that I’ll probably post between both here and the RRFS blog.

I’m actually really excited to write it, because Christian Ethics was one of my favorite classes in college, and it’ll be like writing essays for that again XD.

Yes, I’m one of those weirdos who likes writing essays…

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ~ Genesis 1:1 WEB

Or this:

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. ~ Genesis 2:7 WEB

Or this:

Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”

The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.

Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ~ Genesis 3:1-13 WEB

Then there is no reason to believe this:

Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned. ~ Romans 5:12 WEB

Or this?

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Romans 6:23 WEB

Or this?

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. ~ John 3:16-18 WEB

If you are a Christian, you don’t get to pick and choose which parts of the Bible you believe to be Truth.

It is either all Truth, or none of it is.

Because the belief in the need for salvation – for the very redemption of Christ – hinges on the belief of the creation, of Adam and Eve, and on original sin.

Every challenge to God’s authority always begins with “Did God really say?”

Purchase on Amazon

Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher in conjunction with the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour in May 2012. I’m a little late getting my review up.

Genre & Length: Suspense, 401 pages

The Blurb:

Some things weren’t meant to be discovered.  But once they’re unleashed, there’s no turning back.
Beneath the town of Beckon, a terror hides, lurking in the darkness.  Waiting.

Three people are drawn to the small Wyoming town for very different reasons.  Anthropologist Jack Kendrick comes looking for clues to his father’s disappearance.  Police officer Elina Gutierrez arrives in the near-deserted town on the trail of her missing cousin.  And George Wilcox is lured by the promise of a cure for his wife’s illness.

All are looking for answers.  But as they draw closer to discovering the town’s chilling secret, the real question becomes. . .

Will their quest uncover a miracle, or release an unspeakable evil?

My Thoughts

Plot: I will be honest, it’s been over a year since I read this. In fact, as I was heading back home from this year’s OWFI conference, I remembered thinking “Huh. I was finishing Beckon on the drive back last year. I really should get this review up.”

So, a year later, what can I remember?

I remember being creeped out at several scenes. I remember reading it and thinking “This raises some EXCELLENT questions that I need to keep in mind while writing Catalyst.” (I already had my basic premise, and was just starting to outline it at that point.)

Pacing: I remember being bored in a few places, even though this was labeled “suspense”. I skim read through probably a quarter of this book.

Writing Style: One of the main characters made me think of Indiana Jones, lol. But I don’t recall having any problems with the writing itself.

Would I read this book again: Maybe. I’d have to really feel the urge to read again, just to think on the questions it raised in my mind. Currently? I have no plans to read it again in the near future.

Holy cow, how has it been a week? I think I’m going to have to devote the last half of the month to all the writing and critting. Blah. Believe it or not, I actually don’t like leaving things until the last minute…

June Goals:

1. Finish crit on TSB for Michelle.

(Still) Haven’t started yet.

2. Get halfway through (new) Catalyst re-write.

(Still) Haven’t started yet.

3. Work on character charts for Undoing bk 2.

(Still) Haven’t started yet.

4. Read five books. (Excluding manga. Because I read manga like candy.)

Still in progress… because I totally read 6 manga volumes this week instead of other reading >_<. But I’m finally past the point of D.Gray-man that matched up to the end of the anime! It’s all new from here out!

I’ve kind-of finished Home from the Sea? I skim read most of it, because it was moving a bit slow, and I’m not sure I care enough about the characters to do a more thorough read…

And I’ve started reading Passing Time. OMG SO GOOD.

5. Get five posts pre-written for this blog.

COMPLETE! Three reviews, and two Sunday posts.

6. Get five more posts pre-written for RRFS blog.

Complete! … mostly. I’ve written and edited three blog posts for RRFS, one is drafted and awaiting edit, and one is in-progress because it’s a collab post and I’m waiting on responses from the rest of the Ferrets *pokes them*. But I’m close enough that I’m calling it DONE.

Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.

~ 2 Timothy 2:15, WEB

I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables.

~ 2 Timothy 4:1-4, WEB

And then read this article:

Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity

Seems to me where the church has gone wrong in trying to reach the world is appearing “friendly”, instead of appearing “united with Christ”. What do you think?

I FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO A SLIDESHOW! AHHHH!

Uprising (Children of the Gods, Book 2) on Amazon

Disclaimer: I received a free advance copy of this book from the author in exchange for a review.

Genre & Length: Young Adult contemporary fantasy, 384 pages

The Blurb:

The Descendants have waited long enough for freedom. 

 

Elyse has done everything she can to protect her friends from The Council’s reach. As long as they believe she’s dead, she has time to rest and train for war. And war is inevitable. 

 

When Kara arrives with the news that Anna and Chloe have been captured, Elyse is faced with the realization that no one is safe until The Council is stopped and Christoph is destroyed. She doesn’t need a prophecy to tell her to lead an army. Christoph has done the one thing that ensures she’ll fight to the death. He’s threatened the people she loves. 

 

It will take more than the words of an oracle to help them fight against the most powerful Descendant alive. To break The Council’s oppression and rise up against a plot so many years in the making, Elyse will need to get dangerously close to her enemy. So close, in fact, she may not survive.

My Thoughts

Plot: This pretty much picks up right after the ending of book one, so you’re going to be confused if you haven’t read it (or if you haven’t read it in a year, lol).

In all honesty, it didn’t really feel like there was much of a plot to the book. It wasn’t bad, but it all seemed to be set-up for the third book, and nothing actually got resolved in Uprising. Other than Elyse discovering how much of a bad guy the antagonist was.

I was… a bit unimpressed with how quickly Elyse and William gave in to having sex (which was not detailed, just fade-to-black) when at the end of the previous book, and in the few chapters before it happened in book two, they’d been adamant about not risking getting pregnant (it’s a plot point, but I don’t want to spoil too much).

There were a lot of loose ends left hanging, and while I understand that it is setting up for a sequel, it would have been nice if at least one of them had been resolved completely.

Pacing: It didn’t really move slow or fast, and when I had time to sit down and read, it was easy to remember what had happened previously. (I read this in half hour snatches a few weeks apart at times, sadly. Life has been busy.)

Writing Style: Even with the lack of resolution, I enjoyed reading this. Jessica’s writing is easy to sink into and relax with after a long day.

Would I read this book again: Possibly. Especially when it’s closer to the time of when the third book will be out .

June Goals:

1. Finish crit on TSB for Michelle.

Haven’t started yet.

2. Get halfway through (new) Catalyst re-write.

Haven’t started yet.

3. Work on character charts for Undoing bk 2.

Haven’t started yet.

4. Read five books. (Excluding manga. Because I read manga like candy.)

In progress! Currently reading “Home from the Sea” by Mercedes Lackey. I very much enjoy her Elemental Masters series.

5. Get five posts pre-written for this blog.

Haven’t started yet.

6. Get five more posts pre-written for new blog project.

First off – the announcement! The Rabid Rainbow Ferrets now have a blog! You should go follow it. Also, my intro post is live today . This first week has a post every day, introducing each of us. After that, we’ll drop back to 2-3 posts/week, with everything from humor to writing to… more writing. Yes, we’re all writers .

And I’m on a roll with this one! Already written 3/5 posts, huzzah!

I will not walk with your progressive apes,
erect and sapient. Before them gapes
the dark abyss to which their progress tends
if by God’s mercy progress ever ends,
and does not ceaselessly revolve the same
unfruitful course with changing of a name.

~From Mythopoeia by J.R.R. Tolkien

For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days.

~ Mark 13:19-20 (World English Bible)