L.B. Graham — author of the series "The Binding Of The Blade"

I wrote at the end of May about the beauty of summer when you're a teacher (which I am) and about the 79 day weekend which I was looking forward to enjoying.

Well, weekend's over.

That's right, even 79 day weekends come to an end at some point. Yesterday, August 14th, school started. If that sounds early, that's because my school likes to get a full semester in before Christmas, which I absolutely think is the right thing to do. Where I grew up, in Baltimore, most schools started around Labor Day but ran until mid-June. So, they'd have half of June and then July/August for summer. However, they couldn't finish a semester by Christmas, so exams were in January, which makes no sense whatsoever. Taking a break for Christmas & coming back to school to be tested over all the things you forgot during break is really odd. Starting in mid-August means we avoid that, and since we get out in late May, we still have a summer break of about the same length, only it is June/July and half of August.

Anyway, I digress. My point is that I'm back. Students are also back. We're in full swing. Like it or not, my day job has once again exerted its claim upon my time, my talents - whatever they are, and my energy, limited as it is. On the one hand, this is always a bit frustrating. Even if you like your job, most people, given the choice, would rather be doing something else. Summer gives time, freedom, relaxation and so forth. School means work. Even if its enjoyable work, it is work.

However, there is always something energizing about the start of the year, at least for me. I may drag my heels the last few weeks before school starts and mope about going back to work, but once I get going and back into it, I feel the excitement of a new start. I always liked school as a kid, even if I didn't always admit it, and I still do. This brings me, in a meandering, round about way, to the point I wanted to make.

Do something you love.

If you can't find something you love, at least do something you like.

In all seriousness, I know that enjoying your work is not the only consideration. Bills must be paid, and teaching, as an example, is not the most lucrative profession. Still, I suspect that I'm a lot happier than many people I know with my job, even many who make a good deal more than I do. More to the point, I suspect that I look forward to my days a lot more than they do.

As far as it lies with you, find a job you like, and do it well. I don't think you'll regret it.

It's just over two months until the Fantasy Fiction Tour '08 hits the West Coast, so as part of the "warm up" for the Tour, all eight fantasy writers have agreed to try their hands at a collaborative, fantasy fiction story. I wrote the first "page" if you will, and posted it yesterday, and last night, Wayne Thomas Batson added another.

Now we're all pretty busy, so it is hard to say at this early date how frequently we'll be able to contribute or how fast the story will develop and grow, but it is a pretty interesting experiment - 8 writers with close to 40 published books among them working together to create a free, online story for their readers to enjoy. If that sounds interesting to you, then click here to go and read some for yourself.

Or, if you haven't yet, bookmark the Fantasy Fiction Tour main site and while you're dropping by to check out what's the latest there, click on the heading for "Group Fiction" and it will take you to the page where the story is developing.

At any rate, I hope you'll enjoy the varied styles and approaches of the 8 writers, all brought together in this unique way to tell a single story - whatever it may turn out to be!

This post is to inform fans of my series and of the fantasy genre in general, that my friend Eric Reinhold, one of the other authors on the Fantasy Fiction Tour '08, is running a contest at his blogging site that you can access here. Basically, the contest is designed to have you spend some time at all the websites for each of the Tour authors, and if you can answer a question correctly for all the sites, you can win a free book from any of the 8 authors. This could be a terrific opportunity to dive in and try a book from one of the other authors if you've ever thought "that looks interesting, I should try that book."

So go to Eric's site, read the rules of the contest, and happy hunting! If you'd like to read more about Eric, he's the featured author this week at the Tour website which you can access here, so go read his interview if you'd like to know more about him.

I have to admit it, I like war stories. I like war books and war movies. I like non-fiction books on war like Band of Brothers and Flags of Our Fathers, and I like historical fiction war accounts like Killer Angels. I like the film version of these books too - the HBO miniseries based on Band of Brothers, Clint Eastwood's film based on Flags of Our Fathers, and the 4 hour movie Gettysburg based on Killer Angels. These just scratch the surface, though, as I've read many other books, less well known than these three (including the masterful collection of short stories on Vietnam The Things They Carried - the title story alone is brilliant - though be warned, while milder than most war stories, there are some violent moments & uses of profanity), and I've seen other war movies, including some of my very favorites, like Glory, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, We Were Soldiers and one of my all time favorites, Black Hawk Down. So, it naturally surprised me when some readers of my series began referring to the books, especially the recently released final book, All My Holy Mountain, and to me as being "pacifistic."

Now, I'm not really one to avoid expressing myself even if my view is unpopular, so I would acknowledge the label and embrace it if it applied, but it doesn't, so I thought I'd take a moment to address this subject here. First of all, where does the idea come from that my series might be pacifistic in nature? The answer to that, I suppose, is that the making of weapons is what I use as a clear symbol of "the fall" of my fantasy world, and conversely, the unmaking of weapons is a clear symbol of restoration and redemption. Consequently, one of the clear conflicts in All My Holy Mountain is between Valzaan, a prophet of Allfather, and Aljeron, the main captain of the army of Kirthanin as it wages war against Malek. Valzaan suggests that even those who serve Allfather and wield the sword in service to Him can love the blade too much, and he goes even further in suggesting that Rulalin, an enemy of sorts in Aljeron's eyes and Caan, a mentor for Aljeron, shared this trait - a love of the blade that was perhaps a bit strong. This suggestion doesn't go over well with Aljeron, and in the end, Aljeron finds surrendering his sword when it is no longer necessary surprisingly difficult.

So, I understand why this notion of the sword as a symbol of what's wrong with our world might be misunderstood as pacifism, but it is a misunderstanding. Pacifism is the idea that one should never fight/kill/go to war, and so forth. Never. Clearly, no one in the books held up as a laudable character makes that argument. You do see some of the older and generally wiser characters, like Monias for instance, be more measured in their enthusiasm and less gung ho for war in general, but none of these characters say "War is always wrong."

C.S. Lewis has a very clear essay on this called "Why I Am Not a Pacifist" which is in his collection, The Weight of Glory, which I'd recommend for any who are interested in the topic. Lewis' simple point is that to be pacifist, you have to believe war is the worst of all things. In short, since there is nothing so bad you'd go to war to avoid it, that means war must be worse than all states or situations which warfare might prevent. As Lewis doesn't believe that, he is not a pacifist. As I do not believe that, neither am I, nor are the characters in my book.

However, and it is a big however, the older I get, the more I realize that war is indeed a symbol of the brokenness of our world. While there are things worse than war, things worth fighting for and dying for, even so, if the world was the way God had intended it to be, war would not be necessary. Do we not grow weary of the fighting in this world and long for a day when it will be finished? A day when the swords and spears will be laid down and the world will be at peace? I hope you do, as it is the great vision of God's eternal kingdom that this will one day be.

So, even though I'm not a pacifist, I have come to see that war is more of a necessary thing than a good thing. Why then, do I still read and watch war movies, you ask? It is a fair question, and while there are a number of things I would say to it, I will limit myself to one as this post has grown long. One thing I find fascinating about war stories is that they show the best and the worst of human nature. The crucible of combat lays bare the character of the soldiers who enter it, and one moment you read or watch some horrific atrocity that exposes the deep depravity of man, and the next you read or watch some tale of unbelievable goodness, courage, friendship or self-sacrifice that is so poignant it makes battle-hardened, grown men weep. For a writer, for an observer of human nature, for a Christian always fascinated by the mysterious interplay of man's sinful nature and yet the glory of God's image, the imago dei inside us, these stories are in a way invaluable. They teach me much about who we are, about what we have become, but also about who we were meant to be, and one day, Lord willing, who we shall be.

A couple weeks ago I was the featured author on the Motiv8 website that has information about the Fantasy Fiction Tour '08. So click the link, scroll down and check it out.

Today I caught my first whiff of someone not especially pleased with All My Holy Mountain. To date, all the feedback by email, website comment, personal conversation, etc., had been glowing, but the first neutral/negative reaction was bound to come at some point, and today was the day.

Of course, I went right to Amazon to see if they'd posted their displeasure there. Why? Because as of my last glance at Amazon over the weekend, there were no reviews. Since I tend slightly (perhaps an understatement) toward the pessimistic side, I was sure that despite the many complimentary reactions I'd received, this negative one would be the first (and no doubt the only) review at Amazon.

Happily, I was wrong. Someone had indeed reviewed the book since I last checked, but it was a glowing, 5 star review. For that I am grateful, as indeed I am always grateful when I see feedback from a fan. I'm grateful for negative feedback when it is helpful, but of course, that is always harder to hear, isn't it?

At least now the book has a "rating," but how long the pure 5-star gold shines beside the book, who can say?

I first came to St. Louis in August of '93, which is a year no one around here will ever forget.

I came cross country from Baltimore in my little, two door Toyota Tercel through a blistering summer heatwave, all that I owned of any significance in the hatchback. I had been vaguely aware, as had the whole country, that the floodwaters on the Mississippi had been high that year, especially in St. Louis. I wasn't even remotely prepared for what I would see when I reached and crossed the river. The waters had spilled over the banks and created vast expanses of standing water. Everywhere I looked, trees, houses, billboards, telephone poles and more rose up like post-apocalyptic specters from the murky brown water. It was my first and best glimpse of the water itself, though even long after the waters receded, St. Louis reeled from the effects of the flooding. It took years to rebuild and recover, and long before the process was complete, the memorials started appearing. Signs and plaques saying things like - "the water from the '93 flood rose this far under the Arch..."

Now it is happening again, but this time not in St. Louis, or at least not yet. The picture here is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Fifteen years later, one glance at this conjures up the memories of '93, and the summer flooding season isn't over. The excess water in the upper reaches of the Mississippi that doesn't flood and dissipate will move downstream, and high waters are expected here in the near future. How high? I don't know, but we'll see if some of the re-engineered levees and things have improved St. Louis' flood preparedness. For now, pray for the Iowans who are coping with the devastation of mass flooding, and pray that the flooding doesn't keep spreading.

Some of you are already aware of this, but this October 4-12, I will be traveling up the west coast with seven other Fantasy authors as part of the Fantasy Fiction Tour '08.

This is a fantastic opportunity for me on a lot of levels. First and foremost, it is a great chance to promote my now complete, The Binding of the Blade series. Beyond that, though, it will be a great chance to spend time with, get to know, and otherwise fellowship with some fellow writers. Allow me to make the introductions in case you don't know some of them. Starting at the top left of the picture above, they are: Donita K. Paul, Wayne Thomas Batson, Jonathan Rogers, Bryan Davis, (now bottom row, left to right) Eric Reinhold, some handsome fellow in a leather jacket standing on a ferry & gazing pensively out over the river, Sharon Hinck and Christopher Hopper. Links to Bryan & Wayne's sites have been available for a while in my sidebar, but I'll be adding links to the others soon.

For information on all things "Fantasy Fiction Tour '08," including info on the authors, their books, tour dates, how to become a tour sponsor, downloading a press release, forthcoming interviews with each writer and more, click here and browse the newly updated Tour website. If you live on the west coast, somewhere between San Diego and the Canadian border, which, by the way, is a whole lot of the west coast if your geography is poor, chances are pretty good we'll be coming a place near you.

So, in a few weeks I'll be in Baltimore, legendary birthplace of .... me.

As always, when I visit I like to have a small signing at the church I attended when I lived in Baltimore as a kid. Since I went to Australia with my family during June last year, I didn't go east in the summer and haven't been "home" in two years. I'm greatly looking forward to it.

Anyway, the signing will be from 6:30 to 8:00 on July 2nd, at ...

Aisquith Presbyterian Church
7515 Harford Road
Baltimore, MD 21234

Maybe I'll see you there.

As the saga of "The Binding of the Blade" wraps up, all roads lead to the Mountain. I have always loved the imagery associated with the holy mountain in Isaiah, and so creating a world where the central geographic feature was "the Holy Mountain" was a lot of fun. For four books the action has raged around the Mountain, with the occasional scene inside it and more than the occasional reference to it, but now the Mountain itself will become the focus of the story.

In the series, the closing of the Mountain to the people of Kirthanin has functioned as a sort of exile from Eden, a sign and symbol of the consequence for disobeying Allfather's commands in the making and use of weapons. Now that the story is wrapping up, it is time to go back. It is time to open the Mountain that has for so long been closed. It is time to cleanse the Mountain that has for so long been defiled by the blood of the Titans. It is time to break the binding of the blade that has for so long held the men of Kirthanin in its thrall. For behold, Allfather is making all things new.

Perhaps, then, the words of Isaiah 11:9 about the future of this world will also be true of Kirthanin, "And they will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

Yes, the little taskbar tracking progress in the publication of All My Holy Mountain has been moved to 100%. That's because I have my copies. They were shipped directly to me from the printer, and it is only a matter of time before P&R has theirs and they begin to fill orders.

Soon you will have yours (if you've ordered it), and then it will be for you as it is for Benjiah and Aljeron, for Valzaan and Wylla, and for all the rest of our friends in Kirthanin, where all roads lead to the Mountain.