Is it ever okay NOT to kill Hitler?

In honor of the recent Doctor Who episode 'Let's Kill Hitler', let's talk about the classic values-clarification type question: if you went back in time, would it be morally justifiable to kill Hitler?

Before we get into the timey-wimey aspects, let's look at the question. It's not just Hitler--- there have been loads of heads-of-state who have, like Hitler, given orders that lead to the deaths of large numbers of innocent people. Joe Stalin and Mousey Tougue (all right, Mao Zedong) both killed many more millions than Hitler.

Even in earlier ages we had heads of state who caused mass death, though not on quite the scale of those who had both industrialized methods and far larger populations to work with. Caligula and Nero Caesar were both very notoriously violent emperors. Tiberius, though not as insane, was also prone to solve state problems by ordering numerous executions. Even more respected emperors like Claudius and Augustus had a number of wicked deeds to answer for.

But in spite of all the misdeeds of the Caesars, nowhere in the New Testament is it written 'render unto Caesar a sword to the heart'. Indeed the Caesars were as far as Christ and the early Church were concerned, the legitimate bearers of the sword of authority, to whom taxes ought to be paid.

One problem with the assassination of heads of state is that there is disagreement on the exact nature and quantity of evil deeds that a head of state must commit before being an acceptable assassination target. Abraham Lincoln, while alive, was blamed by many for the bloodiest war in American history to date.

The act of assassination does not get rid of the policies of the assassinated one. The policies of Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were carried out after their deaths, in part because their deaths made them martyrs which made it more difficult to argue against them. And even rulers seen by most as wicked during their lives may be considered martyrs should they die by assassination.

But this is a time-travel question, so we must get to the timey-wimey aspects. At what point would one kill Hitler or Stalin? At the very end of their historical life-span, it may be considered very justifiable, but does it do a sufficient amount of good to be worth the effort? All or nearly all of their victims are already dead.

If on the other hand you go back to ever earlier points in the historical career of your target, though you are perhaps saving more lives you are killing a much more innocent Hitler or Stalin. Go back to the career-beginning--- as when Hitler, a World War One veteran just released from service, made his first political speech--- and you will be killing a Hitler who has not yet been implicated in one wrongful death.

Can you justify killing a person based, not on what he did, but what he will do in the future? More precisely, based on what you assume he will do in the future? If you can change history by going back in time to kill Hitler, then history is not fixed. Which means that there is no certainty that the young Hitler before you will now go forward to have the career you remember from the history before you went back in time.

I cannot help but think that such a killing would be unlawful murder. It's somewhat similar to the eugenics movement claiming that certain persons because of the criminal history of their parents are doomed to lead a life of ever worsening crime. Even if that were true, it is still unjust to punish a person for crimes he will commit, but has not yet committed.

Another time-travel question: perhaps your time-travel machine is not good enough to get you past layers of security that any head of state would have. Suppose it is also not that precise about the time of arrival. You land in the home town of Adolf Hitler, walk to the home that Hitler grew up in, and find a small boy crying in the street because his drunken father is beating his mother again. That boy is Adolf Hitler. The gun is in your hand. Do you pull the trigger?

Stolen Goods as Yard Decorations

Today while driving home from Menominee, I saw a yard with a large yellow sign depicting a moose (or elk). Below it said 'Night Danger', and below that, the same thing in French. (I have since forgot the French.)

Obviously the last time those folks went to Canada they stole themselves a souvenir. And they were so unashamed of the theft that they set the stolen sign out in the yard for all to see.

This moral problem is not just a concern for the US. In Libya, one of the rioters/rebels stole dictator Gaddafi's hat. Instead of hiding the stolen hat away, the thief decided it was a cool fashion statement and called in the international media.

Now, Gaddafi is an evil murdering dictator who deserves to be executed, brought back to life, and executed again. But that doesn't make it OK to steal his hat! 'Thou shalt not kill' is not just a good idea, it's the law.


Writing prompt: Tomorrow morning the whole human race wakes up believing that 'thou shalt not steal' is no longer a moral absolute but a vague suggestion. Write a story that shows some of the consequences. Extra credit if the story includes a talking frog wearing a fez.

The Spiritual Status of Vampires in Bram Stoker's Dracula

I've been reading Bram Stoker's Dracula lately. I was never really able to get through the book so I went back to a childhood method I used as a very young girl to read 'Gone With the Wind'---- I started reading in the middle.

The portion I started with dealt with the illness and death of Dracula-victim Lucy Westenra. What particularly drew my attention was how vampire expert Van Helsing (the one Catholic in the book) described Lucy's spiritual fate once she died and rose as a vampire.

When alive Lucy was described as good and pure and kind. Everyone who knew her loved her. But as a vampire Lucy attacked young children--- drinking their blood, but not yet killing them.

Van Helsing said that in time Lucy would kill, and at that point her soul would be damned to hell. Her only hope was for Van Helsing and his allies to drive a stake through her heart and release her from her vampire state.

I found it troubling that a good moral girl, presumably a Christian, would be damned for something she could not help--- becoming a vampire. She did nothing to court the attention of Dracula, neither she nor anyone near her knew she was being preyed upon by the undead creature until it was too late. Against her will she was turned into a creature whose fiendish appetite for blood would in time make her into a murderer. Is it right for her to be consigned to hell's flames for that?

Possibly what Bram Stoker had in mind was his impression of Catholic doctrines--- during his lifetime a Catholic would have feared very much to die without a visit from a priest for the last sacraments. Catholics unlearned in the doctrines of their Church might well believe that if some accident deprived them of the chance for this priestly care, their souls would be consigned to hell. (Actually, the desire for a saving sacrament is enough in an emergency--- as in the Good Thief on the cross, who had no opportunity to be baptized, but who was promised Paradise by our Lord all the same.)

Perhaps also Stoker was somewhat influenced by the Protestant doctrine of predestination--- the idea that mankind is so wicked because of Original Sin that only the elect--- souls chosen by God without regard to their merit--- were able to repent and turn to God. Another version of this doctrine--- double predestination--- has it that the non-elect are predestined by God to hell fire. (Not all Protestants believe in predestination.)

Whatever Stoker's inspiration, he has created a fictional universe where a Christian person might be preyed upon by a vampire-fiend and turned into a similarly damned soul. The unfairness of this may be what bothers the modern Christian reader. But it also serves to make Dracula a far more fearsome monster--- one which not only can kill the bodies of the innocent, but can arrange for their souls to be consigned to hell. That ramps up the horror considerably.

One thing this brought to my mind was Dracula himself. As horrible as he was in the novel, could he have started out a bright and shining soul, a young person much like Lucy, beloved by all? And some cruel vampire preyed upon him, taking his life and consigning his soul to hell. And what was THAT vampire like, before he became a vampire?

Of the many writers that have written about vampires since Bram Stoker, few have given much consideration to their spiritual status at all. Of those that have, some have written of vampires who are like humans in that they can choose between good and evil. In other stories the vampires seem demonic, and it is not explained to us if they are corpses animated not by their original human spirit, but by a demon, or if they are human souls wholly corrupted as in Dracula.

New Catholic Flash Fiction site

There is a new web site/blog for Catholic flash fiction.

What's flash fiction? Like this blog post, only fictional.

River Song's Wedding and Female Doctor Who poll results

Life, Doctor Who & Combom reports that the episode title for Doctor Who 613 is The Wedding of River Song.

It also features the lines:
I don't want to marry you.
I don't want to murder you.

Question: if the Doctor marries River Song will he have to call Amy and Rory Mum and Dad?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The poll we had on a female Doctor Who was most undecided: 3 happy, 3 unhappy, 3 wouldn't care. I was one of those who voted 'unhappy'. It's not that I can't accept an alien life form that can be male at one point and female at another. I liked the character of the Trill, Jadzia Dax, from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, and the fact that Sisko had first known Dax as the old man Curzon Dax, and called Jadzia 'Old Man' as a result--- perhaps to remind himself that the young comely female known as Jadzia Dax was in large part the same person as Curzon Dax. I liked Dax enough I named 2 dogs after her--- one Jadzia, one Ezri.

The problem I have with a female regeneration of the Doctor is that the Doctor has been around through 11 regenerations, all male. Fellow Time Lord the Master has always been male. When Time Lady Romana regenerated, it was female-to-female. In a very recent episode the Doctor has mentioned a Time Lord who had been both sexes. I don't know if this possibility had ever been mentioned in an episode before.


If the next Doctor is a chick, it won't be about anything established in the series about Time Lord nature, but a result of lobbying by cranky feministas. It will have a faintly medicinal taste to it--- we won't be expected to like the taste of it, but it's GOOD for us.... at least according to those same feministas who brought us abortion on demand and have taken away the marriage/motherhood option from the average woman.

More importantly, it's likely that a female Doctor will be handled poorly enough that even the feministas among the fan base won't like it--- though they'll blame the actress involved of course.

I read something on the Tea With Morbius blog that made me feel it was possible for them to write a female Doctor Who I would like. He suggested, before the reveal of River Song's identity, that River Song might prove to be a future Doctor, and that this explained a remark the Doctor made about self-marriage.

I would accept River Song as the Doctor. I would also accept if she had pulled out one of those Time Lord pocket watches, opened it, and remembered she's really Romana. It would be great if the Doctor could have discovered another living Time Lord that WASN'T his mortal enemy. But I'd also accept it if River Song turned out to be just some gal who was conceived on the Tardis. In a bunk bed.

"Hello, Sweetie, I'm the Doctor!"

Spain is now an Ex-Catholic/Ex-Christian Nation

Protesters burning Youth Day flag in front of pilgrims

The Catholic World Youth Day is being held in Madrid, Spain--- a financial boon for that economically troubled nation. And yet there are those who are not merely not grateful, they are hate-filled enough to hold angry protests at this Christian youth event.

This is not freedom of speech. This is intimidation designed to make people too frightened to exercise their freedom of religion in a public place. If this harassment is somehow alright, what's to stop them from picketing Vacation Bible Schools, church camps, Sunday school and catechism classes, and Christian music concerts?

And yet I'd bet my bottom dollar that if these protesters were to hold an event for progressive socialist youth, they would not for a moment accept Christian protesters intimidating participants at their events.

This is particularly sad in that Spain for many centuries had a flourishing Christian civilization and was the home to a great many saints.

For more on this story go to: Photos of Martyrdom: Anti-Catholic Protesters taunt Pilgrims in Madrid

Apostrophe Atrocities

"John has three cat's, a mother cat and it's babie's. One of the kitten's is real cute but the other ones face looks like the hind end of an as's."

This is an all too common example of apostrophe atrocity. As a peaceful prolife Christian, I think people who write like this should be killed. With wood chippers.

Well, that might be a _bit_ harsh. But there is no excuse for anyone who is an aspiring writer to write like this. Not even in an email or Facebook post. Not even if you are dyslexic or don't speak English or just had your brain eaten by a zombie.

If you think you may have committed an apostrophe atrocity, get thee to the English grammar confessional at once. Your penance will involve an intimate encounter with the first page of your Strunk and White.

Strunk and White? That's short for 'The Elements of Style' by William Strunk and E. B. White. Every household that doesn't have a copy wedged next to the other household essentials (The Bible, Webster's Dictionary, The Catechism of the Catholic Church (or your denominational equivalent), and The Star Trek Concordance by Bjo Trimble) is probably inhabited by sister-marrying illiterate hillbillies, rather than the literate cousin-marrying hillbilly type that most of us strive for.

Correct version of above sentence: "John has three cats, a mother and its babies. One of the kittens is real cute but the other one's face looks like the hind end of an ass."

And now, for no apparent reason, a picture with cats.

David Tennant and Star Trek Actor Anton Yelchin in Fright Night

Whether you are an insane obsessive Whovian or an insane obsessive Trekkie, the movie Fright Night will be of interest. The Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, is one of the stars. Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the Star Trek movie, is also in Fright Night. So there are 2 reasons to see this flick that have nothing to do with the movie.

I am an exceedingly obsessive fangirl of the REAL Star Trek, the original series, and Chekov was my favorite character. I was surprised when I liked the new movie and decided that the actors in it Did Not Suck. (To get me to say that required Godlike acting powers).

I have not seen the movie, and by the time it rolls around to a television channel I can get I will have forgotten why I wanted to see it. But there's a review up on Life, Doctor Who & Combom, that most obsessive of obsessive Doctor Who blogs. It features a picture of David Tennant WITHOUT a sonic screwdriver. But in spite of that it's pretty interesting.

Life, Doctor Who & Combom: A Review of Fright Night

Free Ebook: Moni the Goat Boy by Johanna Spyri

Moni the Goat-Boy follows the story of Solomon, nicknamed Moni, a Swiss lad who's convinced he's got the sweetest job ever--- goat-boy of his home village. Every day he collects the one or two goats owned by each village household and leads them up the mountain to find fresh grazing. He loves the goats, and he trusts in the Lord to help him when he has to rescue a goat who's gotten in to a dangerous place on the high mountain.

One day Moni's friend Jörgli confides that he has found a valuable piece of jewelry lost by a tourist, and that he intends to sell it to a hotel girl. Moni insists that it would be wrong to do so. Jörgli assures Moni's silence by telling him that his very favorite goat is to be butchered, but that Jörgli will save the goat if Moni keeps silence.

Moni agrees, but his usual cheerful manner is gone because of the oppressive secret. When he realizes that he will from now on be unable to ask the Lord for help if he needs to take risks to rescue a goat, on account of the burden of his sin, he begins to think that he will have to tell the truth even if it does cost him the life of his best goat-friend.

The conclusion of the story tells of Moni's decision and its consequences. The story, filled with local color of the Alps, is a delightful one for all ages. The Christian content of the story is very natural and beautiful, not in the least intrusive to the story. Moni the Goat-Boy is available for free both in English translation and in the original German.

Johanna Spyri (1827-1901) was a Christian author best known for the book 'Heidi' which was filmed several times, including one version with Shirley Temple in the starring role. No movie version has yet done justice to the profound Christian orientation of that book.

Johanna Spyri was one of six children born to a doctor and a Pietist poetess. When she married, she suffered depression after the birth of her only child. She was encouraged to begin writing, and wrote many stories of faith with rural Swiss settings. While Heidi is the only one of her works known in the English-speaking world today, many others are still available in German.

Johanna Spyri in German Wikipedia




Download Moni the Goat-Boy from ManyBooks.net
Download Moni der Geißbub (German edition)
Other free ebooks by Johanna Spyri, in English and German

Mother Teresa: Don't say homosexuals, say 'friends-of-Jesus'

I just found this out, when some reporters asked Mother Teresa about the homosexuals in Calcutta, she said she didn't like the word 'homosexuals' and went on to insist that they use the term 'friends of Jesus' instead.

I just love this! Imagine if this term became more widely adopted. Some guy coming out to his parents at Thanksgiving dinner: "Mom, Dad, I'm a friend-of-Jesus." In some families there would be this moment of horror before the parents realized with relief their kid was only Gay and not about to join some socially unacceptable conservative church.

And when some people wanted to say 'Gay people just creep me out' they'd have to say 'Friends-of-Jesus just creep me out'. When someone wanted to say 'No Gay person will ever be allowed to join our church because if they were real Christians they'd be cured', they would have to start out 'No friend-of-Jesus will ever be allowed to join our church....' which sounds about right, actually.

And when some Gay activist says 'All Gay people must leave the Christian church and fight to destroy it because they won't accept same-sex marriage', they'd have to say 'All friends-of-Jesus must leave the Christian church....' which would sure as hell wake people up to the fact that the Gay activists DON'T have the authority to speak for all 'friends-of-Jesus'.

The best part of the phrase 'friends-of-Jesus' is that since all Christians are friends of Jesus, it is a reminder to faithful Christians that friends-of-Jesus are not a 'them' but part of 'us'.

Recently I watched an episode of Johnette Benkovic's show which made me feel like I'd turned into a 'them'. It was on the topic of friends-of-Jesus, excuse me, homosexuality, which she said, we might need to know about because we might have friends or family members who are dealing with the issue.

She went on to give out all the grim statistics about Gay couples not being faithful to one another, breaking up with one another, and so on. And then she said she was 'speaking the truth in love'. I detected some missing truths and a lack of love.

I do get it. Christians are fighting the battle against acceptance of Gay sexual sin and Gay marriage, most of the friends-of-Jesus they encounter are on the other side and are actively hateful toward faithful Christians. They're kind of burned out. I'm willing to forgive, but I expect some learning to take place.

Question: would it make sense for us as Christians to marginalize those straight people who are living a chaste life, just because sex immorality and cohabitation are so common? Of course not! Then why are Christians marginalizing Gay people who are living according to God's chastity laws? Such people are the best advocates for the Christian position on these things. It's a lot harder for a left-wing straight politician to justify his pro-gay marriage vote when it's a chaste Gay person voicing the Christian position. Imagine the bumper sticker: 'I'm here! I'm chaste and Queer! Get used to it!'

Homework: find a way to spread the use of the friends-of-Jesus phrase on your blog, facebook page or wherever, and encourage friends to do likewise. So we can find out how many obsessively blogging eccentrics it takes to change the world, or at least a tiny piece of it.

How Vampires Happen

How did that vampire with his fangs in your neck right now get to be a vampire? In case he's too busy sucking your blood to give you an answer, here are some traditional explanations:

1. Bit by a vampire
A person who dies after having been bit by a vampire rises as a vampire. The problem with this is that if a vampire feeds every night and kills, say, three times a week, in a year's time you have a vampire population explosion. So either it is only a rare vampire bite that causes vampirism, or vampires typically behead or stake their kills to prevent this.

2. The blood exchange
Vampire drinks from victim, victim is allowed to drink from vampire = new vampire. This seems to be the most common method among modern literary vampires. This limits the number of new vampires created and makes accidental vampire procreation pretty much impossible.

3. Suicide
The person who commits suicide rises as a vampire. We might exclude from this number psychotic persons who are clearly not responsible for their own acts who commit suicide. But a person who is not delusional who rejects God's gift of life by suicide is said to rise as a vampire. In Taliesin: Vampire Dreams, vampires are people who attempted a suicide that would have been successful except for the whole vampire thing intervening.

4. Heresy
Yes, Virginia, Protestantism causes vampires. Or Catholicism, in a Protestant or Eastern Orthodox region. Among the peasants in areas of Europe where the vampire myth is known, a person perceived as being a heretic in life might become a vampire in death. Probably this is because they thought the heretic was intentionally rejecting God's truth, rather than accepting that the heretic was simply honestly mistaken.

5. Sorcery
Sorcery--- evil magic--- can cause vampires in two ways. In traditional peasant culture the person rumored to practice sorcery in life is almost sure to become a vampire or some other troublesome creature after death. Also, a sorcerer might know a spell to cause an enemy to become a vampire. In the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, the witch Angelique, after being shot by her new husband Barnabas on their honeymoon, cast a spell on Barnabas which turned him into a vampire.

6. Improper Burials
In peasant culture failure to carefully observe all the traditional rituals associated with death might lead to the dead person becoming a vampire. This connects also to #3, since a suicide was not buried in hallowed ground, and to #4, since a heretic might not observe the same rituals as the majority community.

7. Born that way
Some vampire authors conceive as vampires as a separate race, like elves or fairies or Vulcans, that are born as vampires, mate with other vampires, and give birth to baby vampires. Very non-traditional, but an interesting notion.

These are the ones I could think of. Have you heard of any others? What implications of the different methods can you see? How do your fictional vampires (if any) come into being?

St. Joseph Cupertino - Patron Saint for those with Autism/Asperger's

In the Catholic Church we have the custom of asking other Christians to pray for us, even if those Christians have passed away and are in heaven. (It's God who has the power to answer of course.) There are special saints that we ask for prayers over certain issues: patron saints.

While there is an official patron saint of mental illness/nervous disorders, there isn't one officially for the autism spectrum. But it's been suggested by Sister Mary Martha that St. Joseph Cupertino may have had an autism spectrum disorder. She writes:

Everything about his early life was unfortunate. His family was dirt poor and there was just something...not right...about Joseph. He couldn't learn to read or write. He couldn't concentrate long enough to finish a sentence. He became a burden to the family. He was given to fits of temper. In the town of Cupertino, no one wanted to be around him. Even his mother had had enough.

He was apprenticed to a shoe maker, but he never learned to make or fix a shoe.

He was taken in at a Franciscan monastery, but they didn't know what to do with him either, because he would stop whatever he was doing and just stand in a stupor. He couldn't even pass out the bread at dinner time, because he couldn't remember the difference between white and wheat bread.

Read the rest over at Sister Mary Martha's blog. For me the most striking proof that St. Joseph Cupertino had autism is the fact he could fly. Well, levitate. Which is of course a classic symptom of autism spectrum disorders (at least in the parallel universe I'm from).

I got the cool icon of St. Joseph Cupertino from the Why Become a Catholic blog, which has more stories of St. Joseph Cupertino.

I'm very inspired by reading about this saint. If I had any artistic ability I'd love to write a children's story book for kids with Asperger's/Autism about St. Joseph of Cupertino. I could get it published through Lulu.com, I've used the form one would use for a picture book/photography book for doing a poetry book once. Maybe I could find an illustrator??? Any ideas??? (I have all these spare question marks I need to find homes for.)

Author Holly Lisle's gone Indie

Holly Lisle, author of 32 sci-fi and fantasy books, has announced she is quitting Big Publishing to go indie.

This will without doubt be a success for her, as her blog has a large following and she's been self-publishing her non-fiction for a while now.  But I think it will also be a good thing for all indie authors as it will bring more attention to the fact that indie publishing today is quite different than the old school vanity presses.

I remember years ago reading the author Laurence Block's advice to young writers. He said that in his early years, writers got started writing short stories for the many paying markets that then existed. He said that though the publishing world had changed since then, young writers would continue to find venues in which to serve out a writing apprenticeship.

Publishing has changed again. Now the unpublished writer will be serving out his apprenticeship in the world of blogging and indie publishing--- perhaps publishing early novels and short stories through Smashwords, or novels in real-book form through Lulu.com--- both free options. A blog, I believe, is essential for such an indie writer. It provides proof to the potential reader of your book that you are indeed able to write the English language without a net. It also provides immediate feedback.

I have reasons that have nothing to do with writing that make it essential that I be an indie writer. I have one poetry book out, Where the Opium Cactus Grows, which is published by Lulu.com. I had said I was going to publish most or all of the poems from the book on this blog. I still intend to do that, and I also want to provide at least most of 'Opium Cactus' as a free ebook through Smashwords.

I also have my new web fiction novel Taliesin, and may be publishing some short fiction on this blog and/or in ebook form.

Through my blog and related activities I've had the opportunity to meet other indie authors such as:
Amanda Borenstadt: Syzygy
Tracy Krauss: And The Beat Goes On
Michael Anthony Lee: Horker's Law (The Six Books of Magic)

One advantage of indie publishing is that you can create your own little niche-genre, and that actually will help you out in gaining a readership. Christian science fiction, especially that with hard science fiction elements, is not welcomed at major Christian publishers (or secular SF ones), but is a natural for indie publishing.

One thing you can do to help your indie writer friends is to purchase/download your indie fiction from Amazon.com. This helps the book climb in sales on that site. Reviewing and tagging indie books is also a mitzvah you can do for your indie writer friends.

Can a Christian Vampire live from Communion Bread alone?

Barnabas Collins, vampire

Did you know that in the novel Dracula, one of the weapons used by Van Helsing against Dracula was consecrated Communion Bread? OK, he kind of MISUSED the consecrated Host, but I thought that was interesting as in later vampire lore it is crucifixes and holy water that are used instead.

What's the big deal about Communion Bread that makes it effective against the undead? Jesus Christ. Consecrated Communion Bread contains the Real Presence--- the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Not only Catholics, but some denominations of Protestants believe in the Real Presence. And other Christians believe that the Communion Bread and Wine is a potent symbol of Jesus Christ's Body and Blood.

I've kind of been wondering for awhile about the idea of vampires who are Christians, who have repented of their sins, taking Communion and having it fully satisfy their hunger for blood.

I've wondered if anyone else had had thoughts running along those lines. Do you think this would be an acceptable, or even an interesting, plot element?

As an aside--- I know that it's the wine at the Lord's Supper that more directly represents the Blood of Christ. And particularly among Protestants/Evangelicals who disagree with the Catholic Church allowing Communion where the person receives only the Bread and not the Wine, perhaps there would be an idea of vampires living on Communion Wine alone.

But as Bela Lugosi says, "I don't drink... wine."

I'd also be interested in what vampire fiction readers/writers from the LDS church might make of the concept.

My newly launched Christian vampire web novel Taliesin features Christian vampires taking Communion. Don't know whether that is a idea respectful of Christ and the Church or something I'm going to have to go to confession over.

Another question that springs to mind--- when a vampire receives Communion unworthily, what happens? Does the fire department have to get involved?

Some links you can really sink your fangs into:
Canterbury Tales: Twilight, Vampires and the Holy Eucharist
Reading to Penguins: On Undeath: A Review of One Foot in the Grave
Pushkin, the Oratory Cat who met the Pope Not about vampires. Myfanwy the kitten made me post this link.

Free Ebook: Fantasy and Sci Fi Digest

The digest version of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine is now available free for Kindle.

Fantasy & Science Fiction , Free Exclusive Digest

The magazine was founded in 1949 and is published six times a year. The free digest includes all the non-fiction content of the magazine, one full story, and descriptions of the other stories from the full version.

I have not yet read this digest version but the magazine version has had some pretty good stuff in it.

Taliesin, Christian/Catholic online vampire novel, launches Aug 4th

My new online novel, Taliesin: Vampire Dreams, launches Aug 4th 2011 with the publication of chapter one, which introduces the the title character Taliesin, a vampire.

This novel is kind of an experiment, to see what the interactivity available on a blog might do for the process of novel writing.

The story is set in modern-day Los Angeles features a Welsh vampire, Taliesin, a girl with over 100 multiple personalities, a murder, and a priest/psychologist dealing with an epidemic of delusional female patients.

The planned schedule is that a short chapter will be published each Monday and Thursday. The first two chapters are ready to go. Since I am writing this as I go along, they will not yet be polished chapters when they first appear--- and reader reaction will influence how the chapters are re-written.

The first several chapters will introduce several important characters, and the origin story of vampires will be revealed--- at least it will be when I hammer out the details, one of which is found in a verse in the Gospel of Matthew.

Free Ebook: The Planet Savers by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Planet Savers, published in 1958, is the first of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover books to be published, though she had previously written about Darkover in a book later published as The Sword of Aldones.

What is it about guys named Jason with memory problems? There is Jason Bourne of The Bourne Identity, and on General Hospital we have the amnesiac mob enforcer Jason Morgan. In this book we have Jason Allison, who discovers, while leading an expedition into the mountains to gain the aid of the alien Trailmen, that a chunk of his own life--- the most recent bits--- is missing.

The truth is that Jason, the adventurous mountain-climber, is a mere personality fragment of the sour middle-aged Dr. Jay Allison, brought out into independent existence by hypnosis. Advanced futuristic hypnosis, of course. Yes, in the future they will discover the cure for NOT having Multiple Personality Disorder.

Dr. Jay Allison has rejected his childhood, when he was raised by the primitive Trailmen. He claims to barely remember how to speak their language. But the Terrans need to send someone in order to prevent an epidemic. So a more suitable man, Jason, is created.

The expedition is a mixed Terran/Darkovan one. Among the Darkovans is Regis Hastur, whose story goes on in many of the other Darkover books. Another of the team is Kyla, a Free Amazon girl--- a member of a society of women who have rejected the option of marriage and dependence on a man.

Along the way to the Trailmen's city, Jason falls for the girl. But he finds out his surly other personality is able to pop out if provoked. He also comes to realize he is a temporary man--- to be sent into a state of non-existence when the mission is over.

Will Jason succeed in getting the Trailmen to aid in preventing the epidemic? Will he find a way to continue existing, and if so, will he get the girl?

Download The Planet Savers and find out!

I find this book, like most of the Darkover series, endlessly re-readable. Though it's the earliest Darkover story published, it has the seeds of many of the classic Darkover themes.

The treatment of women in the story will seem old-fashioned, but remember at the time it would have been considered rather excessive in its rejection of traditional gender roles. The Free Amazons are forerunners of the tough women in later science fiction and fantasy from Xena the Warrior Princess to Captain Janeway.

It's also got some interesting themes about the personality, and the changes the personality goes through as one grows older and, perhaps, more mature.

Fifth Doctor Peter Davison to join cast of Law & Order UK

Is Law & Order UK turning into a Doctor Who spin-off? The series started off with Freema Agyeman as a cast member. And now they are adding a former Doctor.

One might take this addition as simple coincidence--- actors, even ones who've portrayed the Doctor, need work. But they've been running a promo on BBC America for the new season of Law & Order UK which mentions the actor as the Fifth Doctor.

I'm beginning to think the series is in serious trouble. The Law & Order franchises are petering out in the US--- only Law & Order SVU is left, and it probably won't survive long since actor Chris Meloni is moving on. Perhaps Law & Order UK just got in far too late in the game.

Of course the UK television market may well be less saturated with Law & Order episodes than we are in the US. But then again since the series originated in the US they have to overcome a bit more resistance over there.

I thought Law & Order UK was quite bland and didn't enjoy it in spite of the setting which was, to me, somewhat exotic. I thought they should have livened it up with SOMETHING--- having Chris Meloni over as a guest star reprising his Elliot Stabler role would have worked for me.

But adding the Fifth Doctor is an intriguing notion. The question is, how many Doctor Who veterans do they have to add to the cast to make it a hit?

Asperger's Syndrome and Homelessness

Did you know there are homeless people on the internet? Some currently homeless, and some who no longer are.

I was googling for information on homelessness *just in case* and I came across a number of homeless pages and blogs and a homeless forum.

Today, when I decided to blog and googled again, I found The Homeless Guy's blog, and he has a post about Asperger's.

I guess it only stands to reason that there are a lot of homeless people with Asperger's. If you can't FULLY pass as neurotypical, folks won't hire you. As you get older and still don't have a solid employment history, they REALLY won't hire you. And if you get hired and don't act normal enough on the job, you won't last long, and if you are pressured to resign and do, your unemployment is All Your Fault. (So if you are an Aspie and you have a job but you think they want you to quit or they are constantly dissatisfied with your work, tell them you have a disability, Asperger's Syndrome, and DON'T QUIT! Even if you hate your job. And if they fire you, get a lawyer and file a discrimination suit, you'll need the money. I wish I'd known these things when I taught at a Christian school and it 'didn't work out'.)

One problem with Asperger's is that on a very superficial glance most of us look different than the severely autistic head-banging person who can't speak. People with Asperger's are articulate, often intelligent, and we try to *pass* as normal to avoid the shame of being lumped together with the severe autistic kid in diapers or the out-of-touch-with-reality schizophrenic.

So folks think we aren't *really* disabled. The first time I, out of extreme desperation, applied for SSI, I was sent to a shrink who asked me who the president was and to name some other prominent people, and to multiply some numbers. I was denied. But for some reason there are not a lot of jobs for folks who know how to multiply and name presidents, but can't look folks in the eye, don't dress right because of sensory issues, can't keep their oddball ideas to themselves, and for a host of other reasons just strike their co-workers and the public as being oddballs, loners, and potentially dangerous.

Another problem is that Aspies have a 'lack of executive function'. In my case that means I have 100% of the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, ADHD), and lately in a very severe way. So I'm perennially disorganized. And applying for and keeping up with disability aid programs is a full time job requiring organizational skills I don't have, and if there are any disability advocates out there that help folks with this, someone like me would be last on their list because I seem like I ought to be able to do it without help.

But the great thing about reading blogs and other internet writings by homeless people is that it shows that even if the worst happens to you, there is life, hope, and the internet.

Comments: People with Asperger's/autism, have you been homeless, or feared it? What about the rest of you? Have you thought about what you would do if you became homeless? Would you still be welcome in your church if you became perceived as a 'bum'?

And: I know someone out there is going to tell me I am a lazy pig-dog-bum for applying for disability and not having a job. It's easy enough to verbally abuse me for my disability. How about offering me a job in Menominee county, Michigan, USA? Or buying a copy of my book?


Buy my poetry book!
Where the Opium Cactus Grows



Links in the chain:
The Homeless Warrior: Helping the homeless one person at a time
The Homeless Guy: Why do people become homeless
Girl's Guide to Homelessness
and a break from the depressing homeless thing
Tea with Morbius: Why Romana is more interesting than River Song personally I like them both
Tea With Morbius: Doctor River Song and Self-Marriagea most excellent theory about River Song's identity

Blogfic/Webfic: What I really shouldn't do but probably will--- join me!

Webfiction? Blogfic? Writing a novel on a blog? This is something I really, really should NOT do. Don't I have enough neglected blogs and enough unfinished novels? If somebody actually reads it, won't it bring the story to a crashing halt?

This is how I'm going to do it: I have a fresh story idea--- one about a (unsexy) vampire and a girl with Polyfragmented Dissociative Identity Disorder (actually, it's just one of her alters that's in the story). I'm going to get my notes together to figure out what to call the blog and start it up. Though the actual URL is likely to be something like linalamontblogfic.blogspot.com or annakindtblogfic.blogspot.com. At least at first. I think....

I will post each chapter as rough drafts as I write it. I may even post starts of chapters and finish them later. I'm also going to have entries of notes---- like about how the vampires work in my world.

If I actually have readers I can employ some interactivity. I might even put up polls on things to get reader opinion. Mind you I'll reserve the right to go my own way with it. The first thing I've thought of doing--- my female MC needs a name. She's actually an alter--- a multiple personality--- of a girl named Carol Bannerman. I've thought of calling this alter Piece or Pieces, since her function, as an alter, is to do jigsaw puzzles, thus proving that the core person Carol is normal enough to have a hobby.

I will do rewrites online. And readers are welcome to help with things like continuity errors and typos.

If I ever finish the novel I'll put it together as a free ebook on smashwords, and have a print version available on Lulu.com.

Yeah. I think I'm going to do this. It's stupid, I know. But my writing's kind of gone nowhere for a while--- I think it's because my ADHD's getting worse lately--- and I guess it can't hurt to have one more failed blog. And I do seem to write in my blogs more than I do on my fiction.

By the way, if you are a writer: I DOUBLE-DOG DARE YOU to start a blogfic of your own! (If you do, provide links, please.)

By the way, my VERY FIRST Blogger blog, on a different and now lost account, was a blogfic from the POV of a woman who had been murdered (by Jack the Ripper). Didn't last long.

QUESTION: Have you ever considered/tried writing webfic/blogfic? Did you manage to resist the temptation? If not, tell how it went. Provide a link, if possible.

Links:
Web Fiction Guide: Submissions
Web Fiction Guide: Blogfic
Blog Fiction: 8 Strategies to Avoid Abandoning Your Blog Fiction

Miz not Ms: Creating a less discourteous courtesy title

Once upon a time there were courtesy titles: Mister for men, and Mistress for women. Mistress was shortened in various ways, including Miss, Ms. and Mrs., and in time Miss and Mrs. became the common forms. Miss, like Master for boys, indicated youth, and also might indicate an unmarried girl. Mrs. was for the more mature woman and might indicate the married state.

Then the hardcore abortion-loving, anti-family form of feminism arose, and they created a new title, Ms, from the abbreviation for manuscript. Ms was not a courtesy title. Ms advocates called all women Ms right down to Ms Elizabeth for Queen Elizabeth and Ms Joan of Arc for Saint Joan of Arc. It didn't matter to them if a woman chose not to use their new title. Yet if you dared to call such a woman Miss (few could believe such creatures might be a Mrs.), all hell would break loose.

This is not courtesy. So Ms became the world's first discourtesy title, often used with particular contemptuous tones when referring to women who rebelled against the modern feminist code (like Ms Schafly).

So the dictionary definition of Ms is that it is a political title, as Comrade is among traditional communists, but also that there is a contemptuous note when the title is used for political opponents. (Unfortunately most dictionaries have been lobbied to use a feminist-written definition designed to impose Ms on all women.)

Ms only entered general usage as a way to replace the word Miss when referring to younger spinsters (yes, that's the word for an unmarried woman). The thought seemed to be that being unmarried was something to be embarrassed about and so one could hide behind Ms.

One problem with Ms besides politics and rudeness is that it can't be pronounced. One can imagine that the pre-feminist Ms--- the abbreviation for Mistress--- was pronounced Miss (if not Mistress, as Mr is pronounced Mister). Yet if the feminist Ms is pronounced Miss, feminist heads explode. Try it, it's fun! So they have to say Muz or Miz, Miz being more common in the US.

But Miz is also a dialect form, as in the US South, of Miss and Mrs. So one can never be sure if a woman is humbly and obediently using Miz, or secretly meaning the feministly forbidden terms Miss and Mrs.

Isn't it time to rebel against the absurdity of imposing a politically charged discourtesy title on a woman? Let's fight back against Ms! Never use it unless someone absolutely insists, and in that dire circumstance, pronounce it 'muz'. In writing, use Miz as a courtesy title to replace the rude Ms, when you do not wish to use Miss or Mrs.

You may think this is a silly thing to make an issue of. But the road to brainwashing is made up of a million silly little things not worth arguing over. And if we meekly go along with all the little things we end up compromising on the big things--- like abortion and same-sex and plural marriage.

Sign the Miz not Ms pledge
I promise never to voluntarily use the discourtesy title Ms, replacing it with Miz or the traditional titles Miss or Mrs. I promise to spread the word about Miz not Ms in any way I can.

(signed) Nissa Annakindt