Book Series I've enjoyed

Here are three book series I've enjoyed over the past several years.

Honor Harrington by David Weber
--On Basilisk Station is the first book and is free from the publisher, Baen. I think there are 18-20+ books in this series which started in the 90s. Many of them were released free on CDs included with some of the hardback edition. I've read most of the books with legal electronic copies and got the rest from the library. I've read the first dozen or so books twice and would send money to the author if he had an electronic tip jar.

I guess the genre would be epic space opera. I like the development of Honor as she grows from a new space captain to a commodore then admiral. Generally, Weber has developed a really rich world with different star nations/empires/confederations. There are differences in political systems, technological innovation, social structures etc that are interesting and believable. The space battles are technical without losing dramatic tension in the details. Relationships are maintained and developed over books and when some characters die, it's easy to feel moved by the loss of a dear personality. I do think the series loses some umph after a while, but it's quite good for the first 8-10 books which is impressive on its own.

The Dagger and the Coin by Daniel Abraham
--Daniel Abraham was part of the team that wrote Leviathan Wakes. That scifi noir book had a bit too much of a horror element for my taste, but my electronic copy from the library included the first book of the Dagger and Coin series at the end. The Dagger is a reference to violence while the Coin references business maneuverings.

In this Lord-of-the-Rings-type fantasy world with a more interesting mix of races, one young man fraudulently comes to military and political power while another young woman fraudulently comes to economic power as a representative of a powerful banking house. I find this juxtaposition of economic power vs military/political power to be rare in fantasy books, and it's done well in this series. There are also several sub-themes about religious belief and fallibility of certainty, the power of the unempowered, and faithfulness/loyalty.

Odyssey One by Evan Currie
--First, I'm only on the second of the 4 or 5 books in this series. The space battles are gripping and epicly long (because they are told from many different perspectives). But of course, this is not sufficient for me to recommend as a partially read series.

This is a spoiler, but it comes early in the first book, so I feel less bad about doing this. The Odyssey is the first spaceship sent from Earth into deep space. And on this maiden voyage it picks up another human from a planet far away and a culture tens of thousands of years older than humanity on Earth. I find this proposition really intriguing and am enjoying the slow unfolding of how this could be.  I also enjoy the cultural interchange between the Earth humans and the space human.

Apparently, the first book Into the Black has an early, poorly edited version, and a second better edited version. I read the second edition and didn't find the editing a problem, but there have been many complaints about the first edition--so don't get that one.

Lent 2015

Lent started on Wednesday.

This past year I've been listening to a lot of talks by Dallas Willard and I read his Spirit of the Disciplines (which I cannot find at the moment sadly). A Baptist minister and philosophy professor at USC, his talks have given me much to think about.

I have participated in some kind of fasting at different times for different reason since I was about 16. I've fasted for God's favor, in seeking God's will, in overcoming diseased thoughts, and because the whole church was encouraged to. But I have liked best how Willard explains fasting and disciplines in general. I'll need to find the talk, but he says something like the disciplines give us an opportunity to experience "not having things our way". And I think that feeds into the Lord's prayer, "Thy will be done."

I am fasting this season. It does not make be virtuous; it is not might righteousness. But it is an exercise to submit myself to "not having things my way". And I for that I look forward to the journey.