Tuck 1: Intro

Stephen R. Lawhead’s Tuck is the final installment of his "King Raven" trilogy.

Robin Hood has changed a lot over the years. Originally, the name was just a common name for a robber. Then it merged with the popular English stereotype of the trickster, and soon the character picked up some pious yet anti-authority qualities and eventually became the patron saint of redistributing wealth. But he also moved away from his common, lower-middle class origins to become linked with nobility (originally Saxon). Sir Walter Scott was one of the first to make him an anti-Norman freedom fighter in Ivanhoe.

So now he's a Welsh lord with a retconned name (Rhi Bran y Hud). It makes sense, because his weapon of choice was of Welsh origin. In a way the story is almost more about the longbow, which I think could be considered the first truly modern weapon. Instead of fighting face to face or at least at relatively close range, a Welsh archer could strike you dead before you saw him him and definitely before you could reach him. He was the first sniper, and his weapon must have seemed like the Devil's own magic. Only the crossbow came close, and given its comparatively pathetic reload rate, it didn't come that close.

(Cannons and trebuchets are more awesome to look at, but try wheeling them through a forest or targeting a specific person, and you'll see why the accuracy, speed, and agility of the archer made his longbow even more terrifying.)

Anyway--in Tuck we find Rhi Bran and his nemesis of the moment, the hissably icky Abbot Hugo, each facing sharp reductions in headcount without the other's knowledge. So they both decide to pick up some new fighters, which means in Bran's case a new character--Alan A. Dale, not to be confused with his kinky terpsichorean brother Chip N. The Lady Merian has her own clever ideas about recruitment that show the area badly needs a good newspaper with Society and Obituary pages.

But Bran's personal edition of Mission: Impossible is probably the best part, in which he somehow plays Salome without disrobing. (No, I won't explain that beyond saying Chip N. Dale isn't involved. Read the book.) Suffice it to say that it tests all Bran's fiber, and he learns an important lesson about gratitude.

Through it all, Tuck is a pacifist before the fight and a head-basher during it. This is called versatility. Despite numerous rebuffs, he keeps trying to find someone to join him in a duet of "Why Can't We Be Friends?" What a trouper.

Meanwhile, the rest of the CSFF bloggers are your friends, and unlike me, they'll probably be delighted to loan you money. Why don't you drop in on them and ask?

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Grace Bridges
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Alex Field
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Terri Main
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Epic Rat
Crista Richey
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

Time Masters 1: The Call

Time Masters: The Call by Geralyn Beauchamp is speculative fiction about a race (Muirarans) living among us, able to assume human form, heal, and even travel through time. When they mate with humans, the result is a synergy of great power, as the human male can wield his wife's abilities.

Terran society in the fortieth century is in danger from an enemy's attempts to change time. Its current time master is about to retire, perhaps for good, and a replacement is needed. Shona, the Muiraran half of the pair with latent time-bending ability, has been kidnapped as a baby to the late twentieth century, and fortieth-century agents must unite her as an adult with her chosen mate, Dallan, a seventeenth-century Scotsman, before the couple's bond kills them both--and before her unknown kidnapper can do further harm. But the kidnapper has trained Shona to distrust men, and Dallan doesn't believe any of this nonsense.

The story is reasonably fast-paced and believable; the characters are generally well-developed, though oddly I found one of Shona's friends, the klutzy, boy-crazy Kitty Morgan, a stronger character than Shona proper. (It's implied that Kitty will return later, fortunately.) The humorous angle crops up a little late--if you're going for laughs, you should introduce that aspect early--but is well handled. There's also a fair amount of violence, though no real gore, and someone's sure to object that the good guys aren't teetotalers. I'd give it a mild PG and suggest it for high school and up. (The Potter books are more annoying in terms of gore and other problem content.)

In the next installment, I'll look at the positive aspects of the book; then I'll examine the negatives. Bowing to tradition, I'll then conclude with a conclusion.

So What's an Ansric, Anyway?

The first novel I started was A World Apart, intended to be the beginning of a series. It involved some kids who wind up on an earthlike planet after an advanced experiment goes wrong. One of the people they meet--the mentor for the main character--is called Ansric sometimes. They eventually discover that it is a title. His people are (or were) very intelligent and long-lived, with above average strength and dexterity. They were also extremely xenophobic and perhaps had psychotic tendencies. (No one's perfect.)

But they also had malcontents who insisted on questioning traditions and wondering what was going on outside. These people were sent out--almost exiled--to keep an eye on the Outsiders and report on whatever they were up to. These exile-spies were ansrics. They were respected and feared--well, feared, anyway--by their countrymen and kept their return visits short, to the relief of all concerned.

Now, everyone feels alone at some level: no one feels completely known and understood. I don't claim to be unique there. But I am an ansric of sorts: I have stepped outside of my usual world--standard evangelicals--and had a look outside. Whatever you think is a standard Christian, I'm probably not it. But unlike many who leave in a huff without having a really good look at their birthplace, I haven't rejected the people and ideas I grew up with--I'm no atheist or Neo-Pagan, for example--I have just checked out the other groups living in Ecclesia. And the Church (in the large sense) is the foundation of my thinking and creativity.

So what topics are we looking at? Languages, words, writing (mostly speculative fiction), the Bible, and some practical theology. And since I'm hardly ever either entirely serious or entirely joking, we can laugh and learn about the places I've been and the things I've seen. Maybe they'll change you too.