New Book -- The Witch of White Lady Hollow -- by C. David Belt

Some might question whether a good Mormon could write real horror novels.

But many good Mormons read horror novels. I think I might suggest that is at least one good reason why we need good Mormon authors to write in the horror genre.

The Witch of White Lady Hollow, by C. David Belt, is a new novel in the horror/fantasy genre. When it is published, you will be able to find it in the usual places. (I had the opportunity to beta-read it through the LDS Beta Readers group on Facebook.)

The setup has a Mormon divorcee, Molly Moonshadow, moving to a 1970s backwater town in Missouri with her high school-aged daughter Tabitha, to teach, and to escape from an abusive ex-husband. She has found a cheap house outside city limits where she can live with her daughter.

That the house is haunted is probably not surprising, but what--or who haunts it, and how dangerous the haunting is, is a very interesting story that takes much of the novel to unfold.

Whether the haunting is limited to their house or extends beyond it is another question of interest, as is the involvement of the local police, other high school staff, students, and even the local branch of the Church.

Belt uses the tools of horror fantasy to explore some very real issues of abuse. Sexual preference, gender identity, power relationships, and rape are also touched on. Innocent people do get hurt, but abusive people get their just deserts (sometimes in ways that are graphic enough to turn more than the stomach -- be warned).

If you are lookig for light fantasy, this is not. But it's also not a one-way trip down.

I am not a fan of horror, so it's a little out of my genre. But I think it's a good read, and thought-provoking. I suspect that some of my friends and family who are fans of horror will find it a very good read, too.

New Book -- Grace from the Fall by Mike Mabe

An authors' group I have been participating in recently was invited to review a new book by Mike Mabe called Grace from the Fall. When I saw the title, I half-expected it to be a light young adult or teenage romance about a girl named Grace getting over some social embarrassment. I'm sure that had something to do with the predominance of light teenage/YA romance being written by members of the group. :-)

The title, being an inversion of the over-used title (and philosophical term), "Fall from Grace", interested me, so I read the blurb.

Teenage/YA, yes.

Light? Prison is not expected to be a light topic, although the movie, We Are Not Angels is not extremely deep.

Romance? This book could almost be classed as roman à clef.

But grace is definitely not a young woman in this story.

So now you know how I got interested in the book. I checked my schedule and thought I could squeeze in two reads and a review, so I signed up and got an advanced readers' copy.

Starting into the book was a little rough for me. I kept looking for a girl named Grace, and the writing style is definitely on the younger end of the generation gap. :-/

And the opening scene is a painful one, the start of a foot race. (Track was anything but my forté.) But something in the writing kept my attention, and Mike's description of sports from the point of view of a de-motivated youth is accurate, and not excessively painful.

I didn't put it down until the next morning.

About a week later, it held my attention just as well for the second read. (I did put it down twice, for work and to eat.)

The blurb pretty much tells you what is there -- Mike gives a very readable account of how his fall gave him the opportunity to feel and accept the Lord's grace in his life, which opportunity he had somehow been missing on his way through high school. And he shows us a sympathetic view of the people who find their way into prison without romanticizing prison or crime culture.

This is a book that should enlighten the national discussion on crime, prisons, and recidivism. I recommend it, if you have even a passing interest in the subject, and perhaps the more if you don't.

You can find it on Amazon by searching their books for "Mike Mabe Grace from the Fall", or even searching the web for the same.

I'm told that it will be available through other distributors soon.

theory of evolution -- 進化論

A friend asked me about the Church's position on evolution.
友人が教会の進化論に対しての立場について伺っています。

Actually, he asked me about shin-ka ron, 進化論、 which could be "The Theory of Evolution" or just "evolution theory". And I don't think he was any more specific than the Japanese expression.
もうちょっと詳しく言えば、「進化論」と言う言葉だけで聞かれると、科学理論の有名ものの一つである「進化論」のことか、それとも一般的に、進化することについての考え方か、どちらかがわからないのです。本人も特にどちらを考えていたかは多分自分でもはっきりしていなかったと思います。

There is an article in the Deseret News, here, from 2006, that asserts "No definitive LDS stance on evolution". It references a "BYU Evolution Packet", apparently, this. The headline isn't quite correct, but that's normal for headlines.
2006年から「末日聖徒は進化論に対して立場を特定しない」と主張する新聞記事が「デゼレトニュース」という新聞のここに掲載された。この記事は「BYU進化論知恵袋」を参照しています。おそらくこれです。ヘッドラインはちょっとハズレですが、ヘッドラインはそんなものでしょう。ちょっと外れるのは普通です。

As I type this, wikipedia has a good article, here. The trouble with wikipedia is that it changes regularly. What may be clear, succinct, and accurate today is sometimes not so clear, accurate, or succinct tomorrow.
打ち込んでいる現在の時点ではウィキペディアにはまあまあいい記事があります。ここです。ウィキペディアの短所ですが、コロコロ変わるのです。今日、明解簡潔で確実な記事は今日あっても、明日には約束がないのです。

Also, FARMS has a review of a book, here, by the two men who prepared the BYU packet, William E. Evenson and Duane E. Jeffery. (The book itself does not appear to be on-line.) And searching through Google, etc., for "BYU evolution packet" produces more interesting links, some of not much value.
またもう一つですが、 FARMS には、BYU進化論知恵袋を編集した二人のウィリアムＥエヴェンソン氏とドエインＥジェフリー氏が著作した本の評論文をここに掲載されている。（書物そのものは残念ながらネット上に公開していなさそう。）また、グーグルなどで「BYU evolution packet」を検索すると他の面白いリンクが出てきます。あまり価値のないのもありますけど。

The debate is interesting, and may be instructional if you avoid getting caught up in the arguments of either side.
その討論が面白くて、それぞれの議論に夢中にならなければ勉強になるかも知りません。

I need to focus on the job hunt, so I don't have time to post more than this. Even translating it is a stretch of my time. So I should summarize.
就職活動がに専念しないといけないのでこれ以上投稿できません。訳すだけでやり過ぎかも知れません。まとめておきます。

The best summary I can give is that the prophet says none of the sides in the debate has all the truth.
最も正確にまとめようと、預言者の言っていることは討論のどちら側も誰もすべての真実を占めているわけにはいけません。

And the prophets and the apostles keep telling us, let's quit arguing and keep learning truth from wherever God teaches it to us, whether through science or scripture study or friends with different opinions from ourselves. Or direct inspiration. Let's all keep learning.
その上、預言者たちも使徒たちも教えてくれているのは、論争を止めて、真理を、神様がどんなところで教えてくださるにしても、神様から学びましょう。理化学経由にしても、成分研究にしても、自分と違う意見を持つ友達によってもそうです。直接の霊感でも。学び続けましょう。

And, most importantly to this topic, whatever methods of creation were used, man is created in the image of God. We are literally God's children.
そして、この課題に一番大切なのは、どういう創造法に由るのだったとしても、人間は神様に象って作られているモノです。文字通りの神の子で在ります。

And we can repent, learn from our mistakes, turn ourselves towards God's ways, and become much better people than we have been -- We can personally evolve, so to speak.
そして、我々は悔い改めて、間違いから学んで、神の道へ向けて、以前よりはマシな人間になれるでしょう。言えば、個人的に進化できるのです。