Meeeeeeeeediiiaaaaaaaaaaa

So here's the deal, guys.
I started writing this post a few weeks ago about a series of books I've been reading, but it got so damn long that it just started to look stupid/ridiculous. And I got sick of it. Not to mention the fact that it's been so bloody long since I read the first ones that I needed hardcore refreshers and wikipedia can only do so much for you. You know what I mean?  Also, each novel has its own plot that is, in large part anyway, separate from the overlying plot of the entire series, but not in entirety. But to explain only what appears to be the main, overlying plot of the entire series would make it look like it was a really dirty set of romance novels.  Which, don't get me wrong, they kind of are. But there's so much more to them than that.  The protagonist is seriously antagonistic, but there are SO MANY antagonists throughout the course of this series that it's impossible to list each one. Besides the fact that at LEAST as many conflicts are internal as external. And the internal conflicts aren't all on the protagonist!
It's complicated. Seriously.
In other words, to explain the series fully, adequately and precisely is a huge undertaking. And... not one I care enough about to actually do. So! I skipped. Sorry.

Besides that, though, I have a book that I would like to talk about, and I just bought 3 more CDs. (= YAY!
I have so damn many CDs these days it's absurd. ALSO - irritating - like, 5 or 6 of my CDs got left in my ex-boyfriend's car before we broke up. In JANUARY. Aaaaaaand... there's not really any hope of getting them back anymore. If he even still HAS them. =/  Soooo I guess I'm just out.
Which pisses me off. >|

Anyway. Shall we get on with it? I suppose we ought.

I'll start with a book.

A Madness of Angels: Kate Griffin

Author bio: "Kate Griffin is the name under which Carnegie Medal-nominated author, Catherine Webb, writes fantasy novels for adults.

An acclaimed author of young adult books under her own name, Catherine’s amazing debut, Mirror Dreams, was written when she was only 14 years old, and garnered comparisons with Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman.

She read History at the London School of Economics, and studied at RADA."

For the record, I'll be referring to her by her pseudonym, in case there are questions. Pseudonyms exist for a reason, and to neglect them just seems rude. (I don't think I'll ever use one, should I actually become published. Anyway.)

Griffin has a method of description unlike anything I have ever seen. And that's saying something if you have any idea how many books I've read in my life. But I love this novel because of how real everything is. It's Urban Fantasy, and it's kind of weird, admittedly--even Griffin admits it--but it's so... interesting. The more of it I read the more into it I really get, and it's so cool. It's cool.

OH! The other super spectacular, totally awesome thing about Kate Griffin (or at least this book series) is that she doesn't write in chapters! None whatsoever!  I mean, the book is split into Prelude and Parts 1, 2 & 3, each with their own title following, but still. There are, of course, breaks in the text. But she treats it pretty much the same way that I do. Break where you need to, but just write. And I like that because it gives me hope that I don't have to write in chapters either. =P

As far as a plot goes, I guess that uh... I'm still working on that.  I'm a ways into Part One now, and it just keeps getting more and more interesting. Here's what I know:

• Matthew Swift disappeared 2 years ago, but left enough blood at the scene that everyone decided that no one could lose that much blood and survive and so therefore he must have died.
• Two years later, Matthew Swift was resurrected, but certain things aren't quite right. For example, his eyes are now a crazy shade of intense blue, but they used to be brown.
• He refers to himself as "We." "Us." etc. And due to a few other things that have appeared here and there, I know that there is clearly somebody - something - else in his head with him. I just don't know what yet.
• Matthew's sole purpose here is revenge. Revenge against whomever killed him and whomever is responsible for his resurrection.
• He's one helluva powerful sorcerer.
• He's being hunted by a "shadow" he calls Hunger, who, at last run-in, was wearing the trench coat that he'd died/disappeared in two years ago. It's still stained with his blood.

Apparently angels are supposed to come into this somewhere, judging by what I started to read in the interview in the "Extras" segment in the back of the book. I'm just not that far yet. But I'm interested, and will likely keep you posted.

Sounds good.

I've got people at my house, though, so I'm going to cancel the music talk for today. I'll come back to that later. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Whatever.  I'll get back to it. (=

Happy weekend! (=

With love,

--Emily Renae

The Typesetter's Rebuttal

I don't know that any of you are aware of this notion, but I work for the Mountrail County Promoter, my local home newspaper. It comes out once a week on Wednesdays, and includes almost as much nonsense as it does real news. (In small towns, you have to cater to the people that want to relay the mundane nothingness of what goes on ALL DAY LONG at the Bethel Home or who visited whom on what day and yada yada yada. It gets ridiculous, but it's the reason that some people subscribe to the paper, so whatever. You cope with it.) Anyway, one of the sections that I type up every week is the "news" from the nearby town of Belden, written by a lady who, well... uh... I'll be nice; never mind. But she has this habit of going on these rants that are totally uncalled for and absurd. And last week (this week) I just... I had to respond, so I did.

Today on my lunch break, I typed up this letter to the editor - who happens to be my boss, by the way - and when she came back I gave it to her. She told me that it was very well written and that we would definitely run it, so this is going to be in next week's paper.

I don't profess to be the perfect Christian. I never have been and I very much doubt I ever will be. But that's okay. I don't have to be.
I also don't claim to have a "professional" opinion. I am 19 years old, okay? I have no opinions that border upon any edge of professional. So you can take this as you see it, but this is the condensed gist of where I'm at, and I won't back down from it.
So, without further ado. (Are you even still reading this nonsense?)


Dear Editor,
I have a deeply burning desire in my heart to make a rebuttal to a section of the Belden News published in last week’s edition of the Promoter. It began “Are We Faithful. No, I can’t say the young people are” and I really want to ask: How far removed from the youth of society do you really have to be to believe that?
With all due respect to Ms. Hoseth, I have to disagree. Generalizing the entire population of youth in this country, or even this state, based on the individuals in one very small area is entirely unfair to us all. Of the nearly 700 Facebook friends I possess, I cannot tell you the portion of those that post Bible verses, prayers, pleas and praises to God on a very regular basis. I cannot tell you how frequently faith and religion appear in our daily lives and, though some of us remain silent or turn away, it touches us all.
I will admit that, in part, she is right. We, the youth of America, do not believe in God the same way that many of the members of the older generations of our country believe. We do not treat our faith and our religion in the same way that Ms. Hoseth’s generation did, and does. There are many of us who have indeed walked away from our churches and chosen to be agnostic or atheist, though, personally I believe that none of us have enough life experience yet to truly make this decision.
Yes, many of us have walked away. Many of us do not eat meals in family settings, let alone pray over them. I will admit that I’m not even fully familiar with the concept of Devotions, and for that perhaps I am at fault. There are many among us who do not go to church – some who have not stepped foot in one since early childhood, even. There, Ms. Hoseth is indeed correct.
However, I must implore you to understand that the youth of this country live in a completely different era than our predecessors did, that the issues, the problems, the complications and the drama that we face is entirely different from that of the older generations that watch us, often with disdain. Perhaps we do have it easy in comparison. Perhaps we don’t know what we have, and yes, perhaps it should all be stripped away from us so that we might appreciate it better. But wasn’t the point of going through all of the things that this country went through in the past several decades making life better for the future generations, as in mine, or the one to follow? Was the point not to save us the aches and pains, the blood, sweat and tears shed by those before us? If that was not the point, then what was it all for?
I don’t mean to sound like a whiney twerp upset that someone poked me and my peers; that’s not what this is about. What I mean to say is that, though young people have a tendency to walk away from faith and religion for awhile, at least 90% of us come back. The youth of this country are clinging to our faith, our religions, because it’s the only certain thing that we have right now in this country of uncertainties. We know what we’re inheriting – including exploding national debt, social problems, political corruptions galore, not to mention growing global fireworks (and not the fun kind) – and we don’t know what we’re going to do with it all. We don’t know if we’re going to have some kind of safety net like Social Security checks when we grow old. We don’t have anything guaranteed to us anymore; all we have guaranteed to us is the presence of God and Jesus Christ as our savior in our lives. Faith, religion, is meant to save us, to surround us and to guide us; it isn’t supposed to control us like some kind of invisible puppet master that we just allow to move our hands and feet and open our mouths for words to spew out. Faith and religion are an interactive part of our lives. God’s plan for us all requires our interaction, our participation, or there is nothing for us.
Faith, religion, heaven and hell: it’s all a choice. You choose to believe; you choose to be guided; you choose to be loved and protected. I, for one, am terrified of losing that guidance, love and protection. I, for one, know hundreds of people – younger, older, my age, but all peers in this belief in Jesus Christ as savior, or even just in God our Father – who have come to the same conclusion that I have:
Even when we feel that we have absolutely nothing in life, we still have God. We still have a promise of love, protection, forgiveness and eternal life in a faith that will fill in the holes in our life and make us whole.
Ms. Hoseth, I do not know what you see on a weekly, or daily basis in your church and community, but I know what I see and experience, and it is entirely different from what you explained. So, with all due respect, I would like to amend the answer to your “Are we faithful?” question: No, some of us are not, but those who are not do not overpower those of us who are. And it is those of us who are who will lead this country out of the darkness and into some kind of future that we can all succeed in.
Thank you,
--Emily Mell