Blog on the Lillypad
Saturday, January 31, 2004
 | The Two Collars
I use this blog to advertise my VALKYRIES series, which I consider far more pertinent to Christian fiction than any novel I ever wrote for BJU Press. BJU Press was too restrictive and ham fistedly southern Fundamentalist to suit me. I regard most of what I wrote for them as clunky and artificial. However, twice in the last two days, I have run across comments regarding The Two Collars, one of the last books I did for them. I'm surprised after nearly 20 years to hear from people who tell me the book has had a lasting impact and they reread it as adults. I don't get any royalties from BJU Press (another reason I left them), so it's not much benefit to me financially if you buy The Two Collars, but it was one of my earliest attempts to show a lot of what I depict in VALKYRIES. And it has continued to get some good reviews. |
I don't suppose Amazon will object if I lift their reviews to send you back to their site:
A book for all age groups, December 4, 2001
Reviewer: Andrew Merritt from USA
This the last book in this excellent series may not be my favorite of the three but it is perhaps more gripping and well done than the other two. It is not for lack of excitement, adventure, hope, love, pain, comfort or even mystery, that makes this my least favorite of the Bracken Trilogy, but the realization that the characters and the age that were so much a part of the first two books are quickly coming to an end.
Yet the story of Krea, an orphan and slave, is one of new life and hope in the future that makes one wish that the series would last much longer still. As Krea makes her journey through her hard world, she learns to trust the Woman in Gray who never leaves her forever but always comes back when she is needed most. This Wise Woman purchases Krea from a life filled with emptiness, hopelessness and pain to a new life full of love, comfort, learning and danger. The Woman in Gray sets Krea free, yet Krea chooses to follow the one that has offered her so much, her true friend and protector the old yet strong and beautiful Wise Woman. Krea's journey is still filled with hardship and uncertainty yet she is guided by the knowledge that she has an important and honorable task to follow. This faith she possesses, that she has learned though the trials that have come before, ultimately guides her to the goal, not so much a resting place but the start of a new life of learning and service.
I first read this book (and series) when I was around 14/15 years of age, but yet discovered it/the series to be one of my favorites. I enjoyed reading this book & series so much the first time that I reread it again when about 19 years old, and while I wished for a adult version (rewriting) I still found myself learning or seeing more clearly the truths found in this book and series. Even today I look back on these books with fondness and a belief that they are some of the best children's fiction work that I have ever read.
"The third and final, and possibly most endearing", August 5, 2000
Reviewer: jeanvieve7 (see more about me) from Monroe, WA United States
This book is the last in The Bracken Trilogy. The 1st is The Bridge, the 2nd is Crown And Jewel. Please read these two first by the way.
This story is about Krea. She is an orphan and a slave. All she knows is the juggling troup in which she lives. With a cruel master and fellow orphans she travels constantly looking for work. One day she notices an old woman following her from stop to stop. The woman seems kind, but Krea's master is angry when she mentions her. Krea is prone to sickness and when she falls horribly ill her master sells her to the old woman, and suddenly her world changes for the better. When she is freed from her slave collar she learns that there are other "collars" in life one must wear, on her journey to personal discovery.
This story really touches the heart,taking place many years after the previous two. This is one of the most charming books (and series) that I have read. Adults will enjoy these along with kids. Please read my reviews on the other two in this wonderful trilogy.
The best Jeri Massi book ever!, July 17, 1999
Reviewer: A reader
This book doesn't follow the princess-save-the-kingdom plot of the previous two because the young heroine isn't a princess - she is a slave that the Wise Woman buys from a band of traveling entertainers. Also, the focus of the book is not on the kingdom and its stability; it is on the girl and her mistress. It is not until the very end of the book that we find out why - the Wise Woman is dying and she has been training the girl to take her place. The girl must decide whether she should trade her slave collar (the old woman has already freed her) for a collar of a very sort - that of Wise Woman which in its own way is just as restricting. It is a more serious novel than the previous books with heavier overtones, but it only improves the book. It is by far Massi's best.
 | Great News!---I think
I got an e-mail last night from the lead guy with whom I interviewed last week. He said he does not have the paperwork ready yet, but he is going to make me an offer. I hope I am not posting my good news prematurely. (After all, I have held out for 12 hours!) I wrote back and told him I am doing the Tech Writer Dance of Joy. (As a reader of Dilbert, I'm sure he knows what I mean.) Of course, it hasn't actually happened yet, so I should not count it as a done deal. But I am incredibly cheered up and encouraged. |
 | Secret Radio gets censored
The ongoing account of everybody's favorite Independent Fundamentalist Baptist college, Secret Radio was reviewed (briefly) by a moderator on the Online Baptist Board. She panned it and called it a soap opera. I posted under a screen name of Surfifor and---as gently as I could---explained that she needed to read between the lines in order to understand it. A post by Grace Jovian also pointed her in that direction and suggested that she may be too young to recognize certain things in the story. Then an older Christian on that board posted a solid review. He said it's about the failings of so many who profess Christ and the faithfulness of God in keeping his own. He said it wasn't the sort of story that he liked to read, but he thought it has its place for the younger generation. He wrote a very heartfelt post about the grossness of man's sin and the faithfulness of God in calling back His own to the Cross of Christ. |
A follow-up post by Grace Jovian thanked him for his honesty and discussed the problem of those who profess Christ but walk in the strength of the flesh. The post explained the need to show this problem and then show with increasing clarity and power the power of Christ in the lives of those who truly believe. And that, if course, is what Secret Radio is trying to do.
I thought the thread was going very well: A real discussion on a pertinent topic. The moderator even apologized and was forgiven. Then the board administrator deleted the thread, without explanation.
I don't know if he did it because the moderator, who is his wife, had made herself look inept and petty in calling Secret Radio lame just because she didn't comprehend it. Or if it was the content of Secret Radio that prompted the removal. It wouldn't be the first time a Fundamentalist preacher decided to interfere with a discussion that glorifies God while recognizing flaws in IFB Fundamentalism.
I checked back today and she is criticizing something else right now. But to be honest. I'm surprised the open discussion of Secret Radio got as far as it did. Like so many Fundy boards, I expect that Online Baptist will eventually fold up when its administrator realizes that free speech on the net is easy to come by, and nobody's going to hang around a restrictive board with an ill-taught, unread, and outspoken moderator trying to call too many shots and make too many proclamations (all negative). People will just go over to the FFF, where you can get a front row seat on the bad doctrine, sheer ignorance, gross perversion, and lack of education among Fundamentalist preachers. And not only do you get a front row seat, you can make comments freely and throw virtual popcorn at the stage if you want to.
| And as for Secret Radio, if you haven't seen the ads yet, the Calvinist Wars are scheduled to be featured as a series of episodes starting next week (Feb 9). Five days of Calvinist War episodes! It sounds almost as good as the Borg on Star Trek! |  |
 | Slow but Steady Progress
The chiropractor was hopeful that the back trouble would be gine in 24 hours, but it's been a week, and I'm still sore. However, it's a lot better. The ice storm kept me in all the way through Wednesday, and that was probably the best thing for me back. Nothing to do but stretch, hang upside down on the inversion table, and use my heavy duty massage chair. Thursday when I made the hour-long drive to work, I was in a lot of pain and thought I had done real damage. But after a lot of hanging upside down on Thursday night and massage chair sessions, I was better able to handle the drive on Friday. It's still not easy to drive, but I am improving. |
This event has not been as severe as the last one was, and I will credit weightlifting for delaying the onset and minimizing the duration. All the same, I cannot lift weights again until the pain is even further reduced and my flexibility is greater. Today I am scheduled to go back to the massage therapist for some agonizing but oh-so-beneficial triggger point therapy.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
 | Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton
In my quest to have a more social life, I joined two reading clubs at our local bookstore. One of the clubs is devoted to the appreciation of children's literature. Our assignment was Diamond in the Window, which I had never read before. I purchased it and read it. Then that hideous ice storm came and wiped out all meetings for three straight days in Raleigh, so our monthly meeting was canceled. I'll have to express my ideas on the book here. As an introduction for children to some truly American ideas in literature, the book serves a great purpose and achieves its goal with a light, whimsical touch that I really liked. This is the sort of book a fifth or sixth grade teacher could read to a class while simultaneously introducing them to the Transcendentalists, the Industrial Revolution, the Gilded Age, etc., in history and social studies. |
But strictly as children's literature, I would lump the book in with The Borrowers and The Mouse and the Motorcycle. The story focuses on a rather long riddle, written in verse, that the two children (a brother and sister) solve, stanza by stanza. On their quest to solve the riddle, they encounter a mysteriou, evil figure that is truly haunting in its personification as a jack in the box. They also encounter relics of the Transcendental writers and some of their ideas.
The fantasy, to my taste, is over embellished, over mechanized, and not seamlessly fitted into the reality side of the story. Some readers love these types of stories. To me, there is a lack of naturalness to the fantasy. It becomes forced. Or, if not forced, it's overdone.
The story was terrific to read, very cheering, often funny, at times intriguing. But for me it just misses being truly classic. I would use it to spark discussion in a classroom setting, or as a companion to studies of the Romantic Age in American Literature and History for middle achool children. But the natural spark and flare in other books is absent in this book. And the ending, truly, comes across as forced to me. Your results may vary, and the book has received wide acclaim across the best critics of children's literature, but I would rate is a very good second place book.
