Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol
Christmas will be here sooner than I expect. I know that, but I haven't started Christmas shopping yet; my Christmas tree and all the lights and other decorations are still in storage; Christmas parties are starting to fill up my schedule but I haven't given them much thought. But I did read a book I try to read every year around this time—Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the subject of my latest recommendation. I hope you get a chance this Christmas to pick up this wonderful little book and allow its story to haunt you and infect you with its laughter and good-humour.
Confused Expressions #13: Proof Versus Evidence
I'd be hard-pressed to find an expression more commonly misused by otherwise careful writers and speakers than the expressions I'm sometimes faced with when an agnostic or atheist friend discovers that I'm Christian. "But how can you believe in Christianity when there isn't any proof for it?" they'll say or write. Or, "Well, I believe in science, because it has a lot of proof going for it."
The Lost Stories: Now Available!
The Lost Stories: A Series of Cosmic Adventures is now available for the Kindle on Amazon.com
The Lost Stories: Release Date, Free Ebook Offer, and Sneak Peek at Cover Art
My book The Lost Stories: A Series of Cosmic Adventures will be published on the Kindle store on September 16, 2011 and other ebook retailers in the following weeks.
Free ebook: "Ooter's Place: A Sampler"
Ooter's Place: A Sampler is a free ebook availaible for download in a wide range of formats compatible with the Kindle, the Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and many others. The book offers a taste of the kinds of stories collected in Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love, consisting of the full introduction and the three stories that start each of the three sections, along with their forewords.
The "Lost" Stories: Coming September 2011
If you like biblically inspired science fiction humor (who doesn't, really?), you'll want to check out my book The "Lost" Stories: A Series of Cosmic Adventures, which is coming to ebook readers across the world in September 2011.
Forthcoming interview at Indie Books Blog
This Friday (July 29), Indie Books Blog will feature a very short interview with me on Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love. I talk about what readers will like about my book, why I decided to independently publish the anthology, and I name some of my favourite short story writers.
"Ooter's Place" now available for Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo (with bonus photo)
Until today, my short story anthology Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love was only available as an ebook through Amazon.com for the Kindle. Today I'm proud to announce you can purchase a copy from Smashwords, which will give you access to a wide range of ebook formats, including ones for the Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo. In a few weeks, the book will be available to purchase directly from the respective stores of the different e-readers.
Your God is Too Small When He's Too Big
If you'd only ever read the title of J.B. Phillips' little book Your God Is Too Small, you may feel that the counterpoint needs to be made. Yes, we often build up inadequate images of God in our heads (the Resident Policeman or the Grand Old Man, to take two examples from Phillips' book), idols that need to be smashed as much as any idol that appears in the Old Testament needed to be smashed—but what of people whose view of God is too big? That is, what of Christians who say things like, "I won't bother God with this problem, it's too trivial," or "I can't bring myself to pray for something so insignificant." Actually, Phillips raises this issue in his book, and it's the right place to do so because it is, in fact, still a too-small view of God. The deep implication of such a stance isn't that God is so big that He can't worry about each of our little problems, it's that He's too small and too limited to be able to do anything about them. Phillips calls this idol the "Managing Director," drawing the analogy to a manager who, if he is in charge of fifty other people, can get to know each one as an individual; but if in charge of five thousand, is unable to take a personal interest in each one.
Short Story Collection Book Launch (with Book Trailer!)
Ooter's Place and Other Stories of Fear, Faith, and Love is a collection of 13 of my short stories. Twelve were previously published in magazines between 1998 and 2010, while the bonus story is exclusive to this collection. Organized in three sections—Fear, Faith, and Love—the anthology also contains an introduction and forewords to accompany each story (an afterword in the case of the bonus story).