Hey you guys should check out these GREAT books written by Wendy Alec. She is the co-founder of GodTv. Here is a link to the site!!http://www.chroniclesofbrothers.com/Home/
They are a seven book series (just like Narnia), the third book was just realesed this past April

Just glanced through the site a little.The narration in the trailer is terrible. "Soaring pyramidical mound"? Who talks like that? Plus the whole Lucifer/Michael/Gabriel brotherly warfare thing sounds a little too much like Supernatural for my liking.

Anyone read books by Bryan Davis before? He's written lots of fantasy books for pre-teens and young adults, and he's one of my favorite authors ever! He's coming out with a new book later this month called Masters and Slayers. You can read about it at this link to the website: http://mastersandslayers.com/ I'm really excited about it coming out! I know it's going to be really good.

Just glanced through the site a little.The narration in the trailer is terrible. "Soaring pyramidical mound"? Who talks like that? Plus the whole Lucifer/Michael/Gabriel brotherly warfare thing sounds a little too much like Supernatural for my liking.

Sorry you had such a bad first impression The narration is low budget, that is probably why it was not that great. Also i have watched Supernatural and these books are nothing like it.

I've read excerpts of those books Joy, they look interesting. Bookwyrm, yes, the narration of the trailer isn't good but the books are better written (although the author does get a bit wordy). Also, Supernatural was hardly the first story to have Lucifer/Michael and Gabriel in brotherly warfare. But I understand what you're saying. Maybe the series isn't for you.

I'll freely admit that I'm biased against pretty much all Christian fiction these days. That said, I actually did go ahead and read the free download chapters. To go with the purple prose, the author has also chosen to showcase absurd and offensive conspiracy theories, which really turned me off on the series.

Yes, I'm fully aware that Supernatural is not the first to play up the Lucifer/Gabriel/Michael angst-fest. But not only does this book series have that plot theme, it also has the Lucifer-rebelled-because-he-doesn't-like-humans thing going on. That isn't Biblical at all and I had never even heard that idea suggested until Supernatural did it, so I'm calling shenanigans. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not. But I can agree the series isn't for me.

Anway, I'm currently reading Cold Comfort Farm and greatly enjoying it. I'm not familiar with the type of literature it parodies, but it does somewhat remind me of Wuthering Heights.

I picked up the first in the Chronicles of Brothers series at the bookstore earlier this semester, thinking it might be an interesting read. I still think that but I'm going to be a little more shall we say discerning when I approach it. Although, looking at the website I find myself slightly disappointed that

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Bookwyrm, no worries mate. The first fall from grace is backed up by Bible verses but many of the details are largely speculation. All the same, it fascinates me. I've read a few more samples of Wendy Alec's books and while the premise sounds interesting, the purple prose is growing rather painful. As for the 'offensive conspiracy theories', I'm not sure what you're talking about there. My understanding is this is a sci-fi/fantasy (fictional) perspective on biblical matters - being made in the likeness of God, the Nephilim etc. The author herself, admits that her books are part Biblical truth with a huge dose of urban legends/wild speculation.

I'm glad you realise Supernatural wasn't the first to do that but is the idea that Lucifer rebelled because he didn't like humans non-biblical? I mean, it wasn't the primary reason, that was wanting to be God, but he wouldn't have had any love for humans, could easily have been jealous of them. Yes, again it's largely speculation. I don't remember it being anywhere in the Bible but it was definitely in the classic fictional poem, Paradise Lost by John Milton.

Again, I'm not arguing with you, just curious why you think it's non-biblical. I could be wrong. I'm merely curious.

Currently, I'm reading the latest Relevant Magazine. It's a very good read, even if (A) not everything is 'relevant' to me because I'm not an American and (B) I've never heard of many of the bands, books, movies etc. that are reviewed in there. But that's okay. I'm learning. Branching out.

Oh, I agree, the war in heaven and first fall is very interesting. I've been told before that Christians shouldn't be so interested in what caused it all to happen. I think that's a bit ridiculous considering that no war in heaven = no fall of man. The Bible does seem to indicate the war in heaven took place before the creation of man, but if it did take place after the creation of man, I suppose it's possible the devil was jealous of humanity. I object though to people completely ignoring the clearly stated reason given for Lucifer's rebellion and trying to substitute their own ideas about his contempt for humanity or whatever. It seems more like self-aggrandizement of the human race. "We're so shiny super special that the devil tried to overthrow God over us." seems to be the attitude. I think Christians ought to be beyond trying to inflate their self-esteem with apocryphal Biblical theory.

Trying to avoid politics here, so I'll just spoiler it and hopefully we'll avoid detailed discussion.

Yes, the war in heaven is interesting. Do you know of any good fiction that covers it? Any non-fiction that (using the Bible) illuminates a bit more about it all? I've heard Christians say we shouldn't be interesting in the fall from grace in Heaven too. We shouldn't be so focused on it that we miss the reason for living and for our redemption - Christ, but nor is discussing/researching such things, not worthy of our time.
My problem with the idea that the war in Heaven happened prior to the creation of man is that God declared all of creation to be 'very good'. I don't think he'd do that if they (the fallen) had already made their mark on Earth. But maybe Dr Ransom can help us out?

Wow! I too would object to the idea that people think the sole reason for Lucifer's rebellion was because of his jealously towards humans but I can't say I've met such people in real life (online is another matter - there are a lot of fruit-cakes on the Net). God created us in his image yes, but we're meant to be people of humility, not pride. It's so easy to get caught up in pride and look at where Lucifer ended up. Thank God for his grace and mercy!

Do you know what's interesting? I didn't even pick up on the references to

. I have no problem with people using real world references in fiction, in fact, I find it fascinating. But I see where you're coming from in regards to honouring and respecting companies and people (especially since you, and others here, are much closer tothan I ever was. As with most things, it can be taken too far either way of the arguement.

After a sudden, random urge I reread The City of Ember yesterday. I find Ember downright fascinating--what would it be like to live in Ember? The final scenes are particularly thoughtful.

Heartsease, a book I read earlier this year, reminded me a lot of Ember (and of the movie, The Village). Instead of a world where you are surrounded by darkness, the use of machinery results in stoning.

I just started Men at Arms by T. Pratchett this afternoon.

I started a book of C.S. Lewis essays called "Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories". Its pretty good so far. But I have a whole stack of books waiting for me: A C.S. Lewis biography, a quilting book, a book of Scottish poetry and some fantasy called "The Last Unicorn" that I though looked interesting. Now if I could just find the time to read them...

I just read an awesome book called "Tomorrow When The War Began" by John Marsden!
I highly recommend this book! it's amazing!

I've read excerpts of those books Joy, they look interesting. Bookwyrm, yes, the narration of the trailer isn't good but the books are better written (although the author does get a bit wordy). Also, Supernatural was hardly the first story to have Lucifer/Michael and Gabriel in brotherly warfare. But I understand what you're saying. Maybe the series isn't for you.

They are very interesting!!! You should consisder reading them. I have my brother reading them know and he loves them!!!!!! The reason that you think it is to wordy is because they were meant to be movie scripts, before they were published as books. I highly recommend these books to anyone who loves Christian fiction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finished reading the fourth Attolia book, A Conspiracy of Kings, for the first time this morning. I got it as a late birthday present, and was up until two a.m. reading. I really liked it! I enjoyed getting to learn more about Sophos, and Gen was great as always. I'll probably re-read it again fairly soon, as I am sure I probably missed a bunch of stuff that would help everything to fit together.
I was disappointed with the absence of Costis, but I had been spoiled and knew he was not going to be in it (Still sad, though. ).
I found it interesting the way the book switched from first person to third person, and then back again. Normally, I dislike books in the first person, but I liked how it was written as though he was telling the story to Eddis. It made it tolerable (the first person, that is.).
I think my favorite book in the series is still The King of Attolia, but CoK was a very enjoyable read.

In other book news, I recently purchased an old copy of Manalive by G.K. Chesterton on ebay! I haven't received it yet, but I am still excited! I've been looking for one of those for a while.

I recently re-read the entire O'Malley series by Dee Henderson, and liked them as much as ever. Each book is special, but my favorites are The Guardian, The Truth Seeker, and The Protector. Marcus is awesome, Lisa is the O'Malley who is most like me, and Jack is just plain cool! I'll admit that I actually liked The Rescuer more than usual this time. It's one of my least favorite in the series, and for some reason I enjoyed it a lot.

I'm currently reading What's Wrong With the World by G.K. Chesterton for the first time (another birthday present), and am enjoying it greatly (as I do all his books). I'm not very far into it, but it's very good so far.

--- flambeau