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gremlinshatephilosophers · 5 months

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2023 reading list!

I read 148 books this year and managed to go to all 78 public libraries in my county network!

Hell Bent [Alex Stern: 2] - Leigh Bardugo

The Golden Enclaves [Scholomance: 3] - Naomi Novik

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi [Amina al-Sirafi: 1] - Shannon Chakraborty

The Hunger Games [The Hunger Games: 1] - Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire [The Hunger Games: 2] - Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay [The Hunger Games: 3] - Suzanne Collins

Camp Zero - Michelle Min Sterling

One True Loves - Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Priory of the Orange Tree [The Roots of Chaos: 1] - Samantha Shannon

One for My Enemy - Olivie Blake

Atalanta - Jennifer Saint

The Sun and the Star: A Nico Di Angelo Adventure - Rick Riordan, Mark Oshiro

Untethered Sky - Fonda Lee

Daughter of the Moon Goddess [Celestial Kingdom: 1] - Sue Lynn Tan

A Day of Fallen Night [The Roots of Chaos: 0] - Samantha Shannon

Heart of the Sun Warrior [Celestial Kingdom: 2] - Sue Lynn Tan

Yellowface - R. F. Kuang

Tress of the Emerald Sea - Brandon Sanderson

The Sleepless - Victor Manibo

Kaikeyi - Vaishnavi Patel

Exo [Exo: 1] - Fonda Lee

She Who Became the Sun [The Radiant Emperor: 1] - Shelley Parker-Chan

Rosewater [The Wormwood Trilogy: 1] - Tade Thompson

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

Book of Night [Book of Night: 1] - Holly Black

Mexican Gothic - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee

The Secret Book of Flora Lea - Patti Callahan Henry

The Only Survivors - Megan Miranda

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn [The Library Trilogy: 1] - Mark Lawrence

Red Rising [Red Rising Saga: 1] - Pierce Brown

Ink Blood Sister Scribe - Emma Törzs

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Clytemnestra - Constanza Casati

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride - Roshani Choksi

Light from Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki

Salt Houses - Hala Alyan

The Marriage Portrait - Maggie O’Farrell

The Unbroken [Magic of the Lost: 1] - C. L. Clark

The Shadow of What Was Lost [The Licanius Trilogy: 1] - James Islington

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

The Last to Vanish - Megan Miranda

All the Dangerous Things - Stacy Willingham

All My Rage - Sabaa Tahir

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin

Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

River Sing Me Home - Eleanor Shearer

The Jasmine Throne [The Burning Kingdoms: 1] - Tasha Suri

Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt

Shrines of Gaiety - Kate Atkinson

Spells for Forgetting - Adrienne Young

Velvet Was the Night - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell

Trust - Hernán Díaz

Dust Child - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Our Hideous Progeny - C. E. McGill

Golden Son [Red Rising Saga: 2] - Pierce Brown

The Henna Artist [The Jaipur Trilogy: 1] - Alka Joshi

The Art of Prophecy [The War Arts Saga: 1] - Wesley Chu

The Attic Child - Lola Jaye

How High We Go in the Dark - Sequoia Nagamatsu

The Whispers - Ashley Audrain

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur [The Jaipur Trilogy: 2] - Alka Joshi

The Oleander Sword [The Burning Kingdoms: 2] - Tasha Suri

Immortal Longings [Flesh & False Gods: 1] - Chloe Gong

The Sea Elephants - Shastri Akella

Morning Star [Red Rising Saga: 3] - Pierce Brown

Honor - Thrity Umrigar

The First Bright Thing - J. R. Dawson

The Genesis of Misery - Neon Yang

An Echo of Things to Come [The Licanius Trilogy: 2] - James Islington

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? - Crystal Smith Paul

Last Exit - Max Gladstone

Masters of Death - Olivie Blake

The Final Strife [The Ending Fire Trilogy: 1] - Saara El-Arifi

Peach Blossom Spring - Melissa Fu

There There - Tommy Orange

A Master of Djinn [Dead Djinn Universe: 1] - P. Djèlí Clark

The Battle Drum [The Ending Fire Trilogy: 2] - Saara El-Arifi

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England - Brandon Sanderson

The Will of the Many [Hierarchy: 1] - James Islington

Independence - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Bone Ships [The Tide Child Trilogy: 1] - RJ Barker

Tread of Angels - Rebecca Roanhorse

City of Last Chances - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Blacktongue Thief [Blacktongue: 1] - Christopher Buehlman

The Fifth Season [The Broken Earth: 1] - N. K. Jemisin

Forged by Blood [Tainted Blood Duology: 1] - Ehigbor Okosun

Even Though I Knew the End - C. L. Polk

The Bone Shard Daughter [The Drowning Empire: 1] - Andrea Stewart

Empire of Sand [The Books of Ambha: 1] - Tasha Suri

A Memory Called Empire [Teixcalaan: 1] - Arkady Martine

The Way of Kings [The Stormlight Archive: 1] - Brandon Sanderson

He Who Drowned the World [The Radiant Emperor: 2] - Shelley Parker-Chan

Empire of Exiles [Books of the Usurper: 1] - Erin M. Evans

Call of the Bone Ships [The Tide Child Trilogy: 2] - RJ Barker

Ashes of the Sun [Burningblade & Silvereye: 1] - Django Wexler

Summer Sons - Lee Mandelo

The Ninth Rain [The Winnowing Flame Trilogy: 1] - Jen Williams

Foundryside [The Founders Trilogy: 1] - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Surviving Sky [The Rages Trilogy: 1] - Kritika H. Rao

The Light of All That Falls [The Licanius Trilogy: 3] - James Islington

Threads That Bind [Threads That Bind: 1] - Kika Hatzopoulou

The Sword Defiant [Lands of the Firstborn: 1] - Gareth Hanrahan

The City We Became [The Great Cities: 1] - N. K. Jemisin

The Chalice of the Gods [Percy Jackson and the Olympians: 6] - Rick Riordan

The Tiger and the Wolf [Echoes of the Fall: 1] - Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Justice of Kings [Empire of the Wolf: 1] - Richard Swan

The Fragile Threads of Power [Threads of Power: 1] - V. E. Schwab

The Deep Sky - Yume Kitasei

City of Stairs [Divine Cities: 1] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - Brandon Sanderson

Words of Radiance [The Stormlight Archive: 2] - Brandon Sanderson

Foul Heart Huntsman [Foul Lady Fortune: 2] - Chloe Gong

The Water Outlaws - S. L. Huang

Under the Udala Trees - Chinelo Okparanta

A Desolation Called Peace [Teixcalaan: 2] - Arkady Martine

The Celebrants - Steven Rowley

Translation State - Ann Leckie

Godkiller [Godkiller: 1] - Hannah Kaner

The Art of Destiny [The Wat Arts Saga: 2] - Wesley Chu

The Mimicking of Known Successes [Mossa & Pleiti: 1] - Malka Older

Shorefall [The Founders Trilogy: 2] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Catfish Rolling - Clara Kumagai

Red Sister [The Book of the Ancestor: 1] - Mark Lawrence

Empire of Silence [The Sun Eater: 1] - Christopher Ruocchio

Sisters of the Lost Nation - Nick Medina

Dead Country [The Craft Wars: 1] - Max Gladstone

The Bone Shard Emperor [The Drowning Empire: 2] - Andrea Stewart

The Bear and the Serpent [Echoes of the Fall: 2] - Adrian Tchaikovsky

Ancillary Justice [Imperial Radch: 1] - Ann Leckie

Six Crimson Cranes [Six Crimson Cranes: 1] - Elizabeth Lim

A River Enchanted [Elements of Cadence: 1] - Rebecca Ross

Realm of Ash [The Books of Ambha: 2] - Tasha Suri

The Obelisk Gate [The Broken Earth: 2] - N. K. Jemisin

The World We Make [The Great Cities: 2] - N. K. Jemisin

The Stardust Thief [The Sandsea Trilogy: 1] - Chelsea Abdullah

All the Missing Girls - Megan Miranda

The Mountains Sing - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Silver Nitrate - Silvia Moreno-Garcia

None of This Is True - Lisa Jewell

City of Blades [Divine Cities: 2] - Robert Jackson Bennett

The Bone Ship’s Wake [The Tide Child Trilogy: 3] - RJ Barker

Locklands [The Founders Trilogy: 3] - Robert Jackson Bennett

Oathbringer [The Stormlight Archive: 3] - Brandon Sanderson

The Judas Blossom [The Nightingale and the Falcon: 1] - Stephen Aryan

The Faithless [Magic of the Lost: 2] - C. L. Clark

One Word Kill [Impossible Times: 1] - Mark Lawrence

#2023 reads #book recs #book recommendations #reading list #book rec #2023 #seriously y’all get a library card #it is so much cheaper than bookstores #also can you tell I’m unemployed by the amount of reading

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adrien2501-blog · 6 months

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Lankhmar and the Origins of Adventure Fantasy

Fritz Leiber’s Lean Times in Lankhmar is a sword and sorcery short story that is part of the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series. The Series had a huge impact on the development of the Sword and Sorcery Genre and the term for the genre itself comes from Lieber. The story is set in the city of Lankhmar, a metropolis full of scheming factions and false gods. Fafhrd and Grey Mouser begin the story by arriving in the city of Lankhmar and split apart as their friendship has fallen apart over a disagreement of loot splitting. Both find new routes in the city with Gray Mouser entering the service of Pulg, a mob leader who gets money from the small religions of the city.Fafhrd became an acolyte for the church of Issek of the Jug. Mouser eventually has to rob the church Fafhrd works and the two reunite as opponents but eventually things resolve with Fafhrd attaining apotheosis, becoming a living god, and Pulg ends up serving Issek The two eventually leave with the money.

Lean Times in Lankhmar serves as a sword and sorcery template for novels such as Alyx by Joanna Russ and Michael Moorcock’s Elric Series. Most significantly, Leiber’s work was a major influence on Dungeons and Dragon, With TSR putting out adventure supplements set in Lankhmar and the world of Nehwon. This influence creates an image of fantasy that has bled into the mainstream perception of fantasy literature. Leiber writes in an immersive style, much of it sounding like descriptions of a D&D scenario, this is seen with the naming conventions of characters such as Gray Mouser, Muulsh the Moneylender. These names evoke images and associations that stick in the mind and immerse the reader as it makes the character sound as if they are a part of the world and have a reputation. The immersion is also seen in the allusion to another Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story in referencing the Year of the Feathered Death, giving a sense of continuity to the stories and sewing the plots into the fabric of the setting. This sense of immersion plays into a reminder of DnD as it reminds readers of the shared connected worlds and stories of the role playing game. It also adds immersion as it allows the reader to speculate on what the Year of the Feathered Death was if they’ve never read that tale similar to the allusion to the Clone Wars in the original Star Wars where there was nothing but the allusion until the Prequel Trilogy fleshed out the Clone Wars. Leiber’s approach to immersion is akin to throwing you into the world and letting the reader figure it out rather than using exposition to accomplish this. Depending on the reader, the show not tell approach can be an effective tool for immersing the reader but for other readers this can pull them out of the narrative. Leiber’s characters also set up archetypes that are seen within Dungeons and Dragons, Fafhrd being the large northern warrior who is honorable and brave, Gray Mouser is the sly rogue who uses wits and deception to achieve success, both of these are common character types in fantasy and within Dungeons and Dragons. The competing priests and faction also plays into this as characters like Pulg can easily be seen as quest givers. These character tropes have even bled into the characterization of characters within Dungeons and Dragons lore and novels such as the Dragonlance Chronicles series, with Fafhrd being very similar to Solamnian Knight Sturm Brightblade. Leiber’s work here can be seen as cliche but only in that it is an origin point for the development of these fantasy conventions and tropes. Leiber’s originality might be overrated now but it lays the groundwork for much of the fantasy genre and Lean Times in Lankhmar contributes much to what we owe to Leiber.

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romajuliettemai · 8 months

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WHO'S WITH ME

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wondereads · 11 months

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Upcoming Book Releases (July 2023)

I mostly read YA, fantasy, and sci-fi, so that's predominately what this list will be made of. This is not an exhaustive list but rather a list of potential books to look out for.

Give Me a Sign by Anna Sortino

YA Contemporary Romance (keywords: summer camp, disability, coming of age)

Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Mary Best

YA Science Fiction (keywords: space opera, lgbtq)

A Song of Salvation by Alechia Dow

YA Science Fiction (keywords: space opera, multicultural)

The Prince & the Apocalypse by Kara McDowell

YA Romance (keywords: end of the world, modern day prince, road trip)

Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria

Fantasy Romance (keywords: fairy tale, feminism, epic fantasy)

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Science Fiction (keywords: afrofuturism, lgbtq, space opera)

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

Fantasy (keywords: portal fantasy, bisexual, demigods)

The Carnivale of Curiosities by Aimee Gibbs

Historical Fantasy (keywords: circus, victorian london, gothic)

The Stars Are Dying by Chloe C. Pinaranda

Fantasy Romance (keywords: mythology, vampires, trials)

The Third Daughter by Adrienne Tooley

YA High Fantasy (lgbtq, slow burn, apothecary)

The Legacy of Yangchen by F. C. Yee (Chronicles of the Avatar #4)

YA High Fantasy (keywords: origin story, spirit world, prequel)

A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui

YA Horror (keywords: suspense, paranormal, lgbtq)

Splintered Magic by L. L. McKinney (The Mirror #4)

YA Magical Realism (keywords: fairy tale, coming of age, siblings)

The King Is Dead by Benjamin Dean

YA Thriller (keywords: scandal, twins, lgbtq)

Immortal Longings by Chloe Gong (Flesh and False Gods #1)

High Fantasy (keywords: antony and cleopatra, deadly games, aapi)

Blade of Dream by Daniel Abraham (The Kithamar Trilogy #2)

High Fantasy (thieves, epic fantasy, adventure)

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Science Fiction Thriller (keywords: dystopian, space travel, feminism)

One of Us Is Back by Karen McManus (One of Us Is Lying #3)

YA Mystery (keywords: suspense, psychological thriller)

Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto (House of the Dead #1)

YA High Fantasy (keywords: necromancy, rival families, star-crossed)

Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington (Their Vicious Games #1)

YA Thriller (elite school, deadly games, bipoc)

The Legacies by Jessica Goodman

YA Mystery (keywords: murder mystery, friendship, suspense)

House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig (Sisters of the Salt #2)

YA Fantasy Thriller (keywords: creepy, romance, scary)

The Valkyrie's Shadow by Tiana Warner (The Helheim Prophecy #2)

YA Fantasy (keywords: norse gods, lesbian, reluctant allies)

Gryphon in Light by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon (Kelvren's Saga #1)

High Fantasy (keywords: sword and sorcery, assassin, collection)

Light Bringer by Pierce Brown (Red Rising Saga #6)

Science Fiction (keywords: survival, mars, dystopia)

The Court War by Violette Malan (The Godstone #2)

Fantasy (keywords: military, alternate history, steampunk)

#books #upcoming releases #fantasy #sci fi #ya #thriller #mystery #romance #chronicles of the avatar #chloe gong #one of us is lying #red rising #mercedes lackey

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rantswithhannah · 2 years

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The Shadow and Bone Trilogy

my first thoughts after finishing the shadow and bone trilogy. (ps I wrote this with the intention of being the only one to read it, I’ll try to make my next few thought posts more organized).

I’m comparing this to throne of glass - I can’t not, it’s the same genre (adventure fantasy YA fiction) - and I think the one thing it lacks is character povs, throne of glass does this really well. But also, it’s a lot less dramatic, in a way that I’m not sure is better? I like it a lot though. It’s so good. I like how the plot starts off slow and slowly builds to a fast-paced one. I really like Mal, and his character development. I love LOVE Alinas character development - the writing style changes with her changing, the narration starts off timid and bland, focused only on Mal, filled with unconfidence and insecurity, but then it grows as she uses her power, and it really fleshes out who she is as a person. I like the devolving of her and Mal’s relationship - it mirrors Calaenas and Chaols but in a better way, it’s done more gradually and with a lot less drama. Aelin, of course, was super dramatic, and powerful, but there were times where I was annoyed with her. Alina isn’t annoying, she’s kind of a reader insert character at the start, but then she develops a lot better, you get to understand her need for power in a way that doesn’t make her seem like a bad person, just someone who’s been downtrodden all her life and finally has something to live for, to breathe with, to fight back with. I like the development of the characters around her - they’re not flashy and dramatic and witty like the Throne of Glass ones, but more realistic, and there’s a lot less fan service (which I didn’t really like in Throne of Glass. There was too much fan service). I have to say, this makes it a lot less likely that the reader will fall in love with your characters, but it makes for a more realistic read. The politics are real, and aren’t as confusing and easily won over by a fight like in Throne of Glass. In terms of pacing, there are parts that are skimmed over where I feel like there could’ve been developed, but I think that since this is a trilogy, it did really well with the spacing out of events so the important ones are highlighted. I really like the world building, and the aesthetic of a bleak world overrun by this Shadow Fold. I like that Alina isn’t overpowered, and that she’s confused and needs someone to help her, but she’s also amazing and she gets jealous and she’s strong at the same time. I like the character of the Darkling, and Nikolai, but I especially like Mal. The boy best friend trope - one that everyone else is drawn to - really speaks to me. I like his development along the series as well. It makes sense, and just ughghghg, I love reading so much. Also, I like how three “love interests” are introduced without making it seem too forced. I feel like they all like her for different reasons (childhood friendship, like calling to like, a sense of camaraderie and heroism). I think that this definitely could’ve been stretched out to make it more in-depth, and it’s definitely not as traumatically dark and flashy and dramatic as Throne of Glass, but it’s got a subtle dark and defeated tone to it that I like. If throne of glass was about fire and rage and explosions (basically Aelin as a character), shadow and bone is like Alina - subtle anger, and darkness and light shining through. When Alina gets dark, it’s in a low key way, not like Aelin gutting and quartering people, but more like a breaking down of who she once was as a person. Also, I like how she’s very anti-confrontation, and unlike Aelin, who makes friends with everyone she meets, Alina has about three friends, the tentative allies that she feels responsible for, but also would fiercely protect her, I think it’s more realistic. The dilemmas it mentions - people following a false god, worshipping the wrong king, looking up at something with power with idealism - all make sense and I love how it’s tackled.

Overall: 8/10

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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Downfall of a Dark Avenger Part 1: El Sombra

Having finished reading Al Ewing’s El Sombra trilogy and having had enough time to digest it, I’d like to talk about the trajectory of it’s titular protagonist, the character and series’s relationship with it’s influences. Relating to The Shadow and Zorro and general pulp archetypes, and also the way it incorporates Astro Boy’s Pluto into the mix. My interest in Pluto’s imagery led to me reading Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto, and I will go into the correlation between all of these seemingly random sources coming together.

But before we can talk about what El Sombra becomes, we must talk about what he is, and where he starts.

The very first chapter of El Sombra is dedicated to establishing the happy scenery of the village of Pasito, as a big wedding is drawing the entire town together, eager to see one of it’s greatest heroes marry his sweetheart. We get a great description of said hero Heraclio...and then the reveal that the character we’re gonna be following for the rest of the story is not Heraclio, but instead his loser brother Djego, a morose, slow-witted poet largely considered a joke by the village, currently being rejected and beaten by the love of his life, which is just about the 2nd worst thing that happens to him that day, followed by winged Nazis storming the village, murdering scores of men, women and children, killing Djego’s brother as he watches helplessly, and then said brother cursing Djego with his dying breath as Djego just barely escapes into the desert, with nothing but a sword and a wedding sash in hand. Djego is probably the last man in the village anyone could have possibly expected to become a hero (which may be part of why he ended the way he did).

Cut to 9 years later, Pasito has been transformed into a mechanized nightmare, a clockwork city of endless toiling and suffering ruled by Nazis, freely enacting their every dark whim on it’s population, revealed to be little more than just a large-scale experiment conducted by the Nazis to increase workforce enough to match Britain’s. After two agonizing chapters with little more than Nazi atrocities to occupy our time, we get our first look at the intrepid hero, Djego. And how does El Sombra introduce himself? Through laughter.

The laughter. Rich and strong, echoing around the square, freezing the milling workers in their tracks. An awful laugh - a terrible laugh of hope and joy and strength! A sound that had not been heard in the clockwork-town for nine years.

as the sound of laughter echoed across the town, the men shuddered and glanced at each other briefly, as though hearing the first sounds of an approaching storm.

The smile on the creature's face was powerful and confident and utterly unafraid. To Alexis, it seemed like the smile the devil might have in the deepest pits of Hell.

For the most part, El Sombra is heavily modeled after Zorro. He’s got Zorro’s swashbuckling fighting style, wields primarily a sword, his main outfit is styled partially after Douglas Fairbanks’s costume, he can be quite friendly and charming and peppers an “amigo” at every sentence. His name is the same as Diego’s minus one letter, his main enemies specifically consist of tyrants who rule over his town, and his mission of vengeance gradually turns him into a rebellious, inspirational figure for the city he strives to liberate. El Sombra is Zorro vs Nazis and it delivers on that.

But nothing is ever quite as it seems in this trilogy, and the first installment of El Sombra goes to great lenghts to establish that El Sombra is a long, long way from being the pure and heroic fantasy that Zorro embodies. He doesn’t live in a world where problems can be solved with guile, luck, good swordplay and a good smile. He doesn’t live in a world where he can show up, humble imperialists and get the people behind him. He lives in a world where the only recourse available to him, to even stand a chance, was nine years of an extended fugue state trip through the desert, ingesting hallucinogens, having his soul shattered and then repaired into something much, much darker. And it’s in those moments that we start to see why exactly his name is El Sombra.

There was something in his voice as cold and unyielding as a gravestone.

"Djego is dead, Father Santiago. He was useless and stupid and pathetic. And he died and left good flesh behind. So I took his place." The eyes behind the mask met Santiago's then, and the priest breathed in sharply. There was nothing of Djego in them. There was nothing human in them.

Something bigger had lodged there, something stronger and faster than a man, something with a laugh that could shake mountains and a spirit like hot iron and fire. Something better.

"I am his shadow. El Sombra."

Atop of his inhuman speed and agility and skill at combat and murder, Djego repeteadly demonstrates skills and traits that, not only did he not have prior, but he couldn’t have picked simply in his desert sojourn. He knows how to apply advanced first aid, he speaks German, in Gods of Manhattan he is able to get the drop on Blood-Spider with a textbook Shadow hypnotic trick, and for all of those, the only explanation he gives is a shrug and “I picked it up somewhere”. Djego had the same trip to the unknown that defined The Shadow and so many other pulp heroes, except Ewing never provides any explanation for El Sombra’s advanced skills other than what the character says. Because there is no explanation. El Sombra is bigger than that.

El Sombra has to be, because a mere man with training and skills and strength and inspirational heroism isn’t going to cut it against what he’s up to. His brother had all of those things, and he died in the first chapter. Like The Shadow, El Sombra has warped himself to address calamity upon mankind, and morphed into something bigger and darker than just another vigilante.

In that moment, El Sombra knew himself to be no longer a man. He was, instead, what the ticking clock had made of him. He was a monster.

In fact, with the devil imagery Ewing grants upon El Sombra at points, and the reocurring “itch in the back of the skull” prelude to crucial moments, you can pinpoint exactly the points where El Sombra’s character traits would later manifest in Immortal Hulk, with Ewing’s reinvention of the Hulk plumbing the darkest possible alternatives for said character by digging into the greater horror roots of the character. This will be more relevant when we get to Pluto though.

But to put it plainly, Djego may be Zorro in every aspect at his surface. He may desperately strive to be Zorro, and it may be his Zorro traits that allow him to truly save Pasito. But Djego is not Zorro. He is El Sombra, as illustrated most in the following sequence. The moment where he pulls the most Shadow-esque destruction of a Nazi ever since The Shadow convinced a Nazi general to gut himself with his own sword.

The chained man began to laugh. Softly at first, then louder, the sound rolling through the quiet, cold room like the skeletons of winter leaves in a chill and bitter wind. It was not a laugh of joy, or of hope, or of strength, or of anything associated with sunlight and clean air. It was a laugh that belonged in these dank and fetid conditions, a snide chuckle, a sneering, contemptuous snicker. A laugh like a thousand beetles marching across a sheet of glass.

It was a sound that would have been sickeningly familiar to anyone who had once been a guest of the Palace Of Beautiful Thoughts. The old man started back, looking at the features of his chained captive, breathing in sharply as the handsome face of the terrorist became foreign and strange, warped by the noise emanating from it. He recognised the sound too, recognised the dry, hollow chuckle. And it chilled him.

The chained man turned his head, as though on aged bones, and smiled, a dry and sinister grin. And then he spoke. And the voice that came from his throat did not belong to El Sombra at all.

The chained man spoke with Master Minus' voice.

The chained man's smile froze him in his tracks. It promised terrible cruelty, a mephistophilean love of manipulation, and the eyes sparkled with fire from the depths of Hell itself. The old man sucked in another breath scented with sickly yellow and looked desperately away, to find himself staring once again at the mirror, at the face that was surely not his own...

The old man, who suddenly felt neither old nor a man, raised his hands, fingertips touching the aged, wrinkled face with the unfamiliar eyes. Could he fool himself that his fingertips travelled across soft, worn flesh, lined with years of service? Or was he feeling sterile plastic, soft, loose latex? He shuddered, the motion travelling up his spine, his hands shivering and twitching as he tugged ...

"Take off the mask."

... and the old, wrinkled, false face was torn away, coming off in long strips, pulled away bit by bit to reveal another face underneath. His eyes were wide, unblinking, unable to close as he stared at the face underneath, the face that had been there all the time.

Behind him, the thin beetle-voice spoke once more.

And this is what it said:

"APRIL FOOL! Quién es el hombre? Quién es el hombre? I'm the hombre! I'm the hombre! Now all I need are some pants."

El Sombra grinned down from the vertical rack at Master Minus, slumped on his knees in front of the blood spattered mirror, staring without eyelids at the remains of his face. He had succeeded in tearing all of the flesh from it, and all that remained were a few scraps of muscle clinging to a crimson, bloodstained skull, with two grotesque eyeballs gazing mercilessly at their own reflection. El Sombra smiled and did the voice, again while he made another attempt to work his left hand free of the shackle that held it in place.

"Creatures of the night... what music... they make... I vant to suck your blooood... yeah, you keep looking, amigo. Intense shame boosted by mind-warping drugs, hey? That's very original, I wouldn't know what that's like at all... ah, these bastard cuffs!" He was babbling, a result of the endorphin rush from the intense pain and the thrill of victory.

The yellow mist coursing through his veins - the mist Master Minus relied on so heavily - had been counterbalanced by the Trichocereus Validus already in his system, the desert cactus that had destroyed and rebuilt his mind. But while El Sombra was in a stronger position than the torturer realised, Master Minus was weaker than he knew, far too used to the easy victories the mist brought him, not realising that his own exposure to it made him ripe for psychological attack. The old man had spent years claiming that he was immune to the yellow mist, but nobody had ever been in a position to test that claim - until now.

In the end, El Sombra is able to drive the Nazis out of Pasito, and he’s succeded in ultimately inspiring the population to rally against them, eventually winning not because of said darkness granting him power, but by turning said darkness into a tool of good. The true victories of El Sombra are not in the violence, but in selfless heroism, in actions big and small. And in the end, He’s given even the opportunity of a happy ending, to settle down in the town he’s wanted so long to rescue. And if this were the story of Djego, the poet turned hero of his hometown, that’s where it would end.

But this is not Djego’s story. It’s the story of a man who’s destroyed himself to be rebuilt as an avenging force of nature. Someone who’s subsumed as much of his humanity as he could, who now can see and done things much beyond the scope of ordinary man, and now must pay the price of said terrible gifts. Who will pay much, much bigger prices for them in the future. It’s the story of El Sombra, and it’s only just begun:

It was too bad about Djego. El Sombra regretted little, but he regretted denying Djego that one small chance at happiness. But it couldn't be helped.

Until Adolf Hitler was dead, El Sombra could never rest

The man walked west, towards the sinking sun.

#replies tag #pulp heroes #al ewing #el sombra #the shadow

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ilosttrackofthings · 5 years

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A comparatively brief rundown of C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy (because I love it and need to babble but also it is looong and no one will read it so you can all read this instead):

Book 1: Out of the Silent Planet

spoi|ers: we’re the Silent Planet

this dude named Ransom is taking a proper English walk and hears sounds of distress

he discovers some random escaping from our two villains and helps him get away

no good deed goes unpunished and he’s captured in the random’s place

the villains drag him on their spaceship and blast off into space

they all spend a few months just chilling because it’s a long trip to Mars and the whole kidnapping issue is gonna have to wait

the villains wanna make nice with the Martians and need Ransom to be their human sacrifice to the Martian god to really solidify this new interplanetary friendship

Ransom, not wanting to do any of that, escapes when they land

turns out there are lots of different kinds of Martians and he chills with the really tall otter people for a few months

also Ransom is a linguist and learns to speak their language because he’s cool like that

at one point he sees a little kid talking to their imaginary friend and tries to do that adult thing where he pretends to talk to him too

and the kid is just like “...what?”

because it’s not an imaginary friend

it’s an angel eldil

Ransom convinces his otter buddy to stay out on the lake fishing even though it’s time to come in and otter buddy dies because this was a sin and Ransom feels SUPER GUILTY for corrupting his bro and getting him killed

man, sin is harsh

Ransom ends up leaving for reasons and goes to deal with our villains, who are still running around on Mars somewhere

he has more adventures, one involving a cave that is described in minute detail because it’s a MARTIAN cave, don’t you care just so much?

all the Martians think Ransom’s cool

the ~advanced ones the villains wanna deal with make a frieze depicting Ransom’s adventures

all the humans on the frieze look like Ransom

everyone gets to meet the god of Mars

who is not a god, he’s another angel eldil, he’s just in charge of Mars/the spirit of Mars

he also thinks Ransom’s cool

Ransom is allowed to take the villains home so they won’t cause Mars anymore trouble

they naturally plot to murder him

one of them dies, the other escapes, and Ransom goes off to enjoy normal Earth things like sandwiches and tea and beds

Book 2: Perelandra

that’s Venus

because Ransom is so cool, and also the only human being who’s not a villain and has been off of Earth, he’s sent to Venus

they’re still at the Eden stage and it’s time for the snake to show up and make his offer

Ransom basically gets in a glass box and is carried through space by the eldil

he’s all sunburned on one side and ~Eve laughs her ass off when she meets him

Venus is all oceans with floating islands like that island of insanity in Life of Pi

[that was literally the only part of Life of Pi I liked and this connection is why]

all the animals are super chill because there’s no sin yet

Ransom ultimately realizes that he might have to die to stop Venus from Falling

he decides he’s cool with that and also recognizes that his name is appropriate like he’s a character in a story

such a nerd

I love him

he does not die

Venus does not Fall

it’s all good

Book 3: That Hideous Strength

new main characters!

professor who just wants to be in the cool clique at work and his wife who’s having second thoughts about this marriage

the wife freaks out one morning when she sees a picture of an executed murderer in the paper because she had a dream about him the night before

there is a LOT of stuff about how the professor’s college has this pretty little wooded area that they’ve sold off secretly as part of some mundane-sounding measure and it’s all gonna be torn up even though people LIVE THERE and the town goes into chaos but it’s too late, the damage is done

the professor is taken out of town by his new friends, who all work for the people who bought the land

they say they’ll give him a job, tell him to write up some blatantly false propaganda for them to keep the little people thinking the way they want

he starts to realize that this fancy new job is too good to be true

also they’re not paying him

whenever he tries to leave, the harmless figurehead stops him

he makes sure to leave when the figurehead is occupied in his office inside, no way he could get in his way

he barely makes it out of the house before he sees the figurehead, not inside, but in the distance, coming across the lawn

it is not even the creepiest thing

the Creepiest Thing is the head

ohmygosh the head

the head of the executed murderer, removed from his corpse, hooked up to machines to put saliva in the mouth and air in the throat and to make it talk

this is how they communicate with demons their outerspace friends

the head is a stepping stone to their ideal person: no body, just a mind, free and untethered by silly wants and needs and UGH I’M STILL THINKING ABOUT THE HEAD IT’S SO GROSS

sidenote: THE MOOOOOOOON

the moon is inhabited

aliens live under the surface

the ones on the dark side are cool, they’re like any of the other neato aliens we’ve met

the ones on the side that’s locked facing us have been corrupted by humanity’s sin and they’re so disgusted with their own flesh that they build robots of themselves so that moon-husband doesn’t have to have sex with his moon-wife, he can have sex with her robot double instead, clearly way less gross

they’ve already perfected the whole body-free thing and they’re trying to force it on their non-corrupted moon-brethren

anyway

back to the story

the professor’s wife has been doing her own thing

she’s trying to deal with these ~weird dreams~ she’s been having but the only help she finds is in some kinda awkward people and no one wants to hang out with that

only then their sleepy little town becomes a warzone because of the destroying the land and the professor’s propaganda and also the people her husband is with send someone to kidnap her so yeah, she’ll take the awkward people

at this point we’re like halfway through the book and there’s been no space stuff and no Ransom and you’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything but it’s a really dense book so there’s really no stopping now

the wife ends up in a kinda weird house with a weird collection of people and also a bear

the bear is great

he is a puppy

a very tiny englishwoman bosses him out of her kitchen

the best

all of these people know about the bad guys the professor is with, some of them were displaced by the land being taken

they’re all here to help the guy upstairs

no, not God

literally the guy upstairs

who is Ransom

freaking finally

he’s kinda frail but also not? and he seems super young but also old?

basically his space adventures messed him up but not in a bad way

he is the New Pendragon

this happens a lot, Pendragons, the True Spirit of England having to be fought for and preserved

he’s not Arthur reborn, he’s just ... filling that role or whatever in these modern times

and also he is not a king

def. not

but he’s in charge and also we need to find Merlin

he’s buried in that quaint little wood the baddies are tearing up

and also the wife is psychic, that’s why she has the dreams

so they need her to tell them where to find Merlin

remember that this is the Space Trilogy?

everyone’s going after Merlin at once

he gets away by pretending to be a tramp

because he’s Merlin

he goes straight to Ransom because he knows what’s up

they do lots of cool magic stuff

the spirits of like three different planets come upon Merlin to infuse him with power and it’s just a really pretty section of the book with each spirit overflowing to briefly alter the emotional state of everyone nearby in really cool ways

Merlin goes off to fight the bad guys by freeing all their animal test subjects and setting them on them in a horrible massacre

the bear was also captured by the bad guys previously and is ashamed of his actions during the fight

it’s sad

Merlin dies from all the power

oh also the surviving villain from book 1 was one of the baddies here

he dies

the professor is saved

he and his wife reunite with a new outlook on their marriage

Ransom gets to go back to Venus because his work is done and he loved it so much there

and that is the Space Trilogy

where is the movie series?

#talkytalktalk #bibliophile

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buzzdixonwriter · 6 years

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Still More Non-Spoilericious Notes On THE LAST JEDI

#1: There’s no point in arguing plot points re The Last Jedi. The producers know the direction they want the films to move in, there’s no reason to suspect either The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi are false steps.

Whatever comes next in Episode IX, it will represent the deliberate intent of the producers.

So what appears to be dreadful writing and direction in The Last Jedi may just be set up for Episode IX.

Mind you, the execution can still be dreadful even if the final chapter ends satisfactorily.

But there’s no point second guessing it.

#2: George Lucas, by and large, is not a lightweight film maker despite making some lightweight films. THX 1138, American Graffiti, and Star Wars are not lightweight stories despite be presented in the form of popular entertainment (The Indiana Jones movies, on the other hand, are indeed fluff).

Lucas was thinking through the full implications of his Star Wars universe as early as the immediate aftermath of the first film. Splinter In The Mind’s Eye was intended as a low budget sequel if the original Star Wars did only passable business (luckily they were able to go with Plan B). It focused less on Imperial might and more on the ramifications -- moral / ethical / spiritual – of The Force itself.

When Star Wars was a smash success, Lucas crafted a more grandiose plan. Originally he planned for a series of four trilogies, with a standalone bridging film linking each trilogy to the next, for a total of 15 features.

While Lucas scaled his ambitions back considerably (first the bridging films, then the fourth trilogy went the way of all flesh), he did finish his conservatorship of Star Wars with an ambition for 9 films, 6 of which he’d seen to completion.

(Thanks to Disney, we may yet see the original 15 film plan -- and perhaps more -- before the series in finally laid to rest.)

#3: Lucas is not a lightweight, whatever other flaws he may display as a film maker, and it’s clear he could see the implications of The Force through to their logical conclusions.

There’s only two ways for the Star Wars saga to end happily: Either kill all the gods, or make everybody a god.

The Last Jedi certainly seems to be leaning strongly towards the kill-all-the-gods camp (and by kill-all-the-gods I obviously mean to either eliminate or neutralize all characters capable of using The Force, since Force mastery results in near god-like power and ability).

Either Force users are eliminated from galactic culture, thus freeing the common citizen from either depredation or the corresponding need for salvation from Sith and Jedi, or everybody gains full and equal access to The Force.

Either choice results in freedom for all.

A future where some beings master The Force and others don’t is a future of blood and suffering for those who don’t.

From the initial success of Star Wars, Lucas knew the story would have to end badly for the inheritors of the currently projected middle trilogy. The false glow-in-the-dark hope at the end of Return Of The Jedi only set the stage for an endless repetition of the (as then unfilmed) prequel trilogy, in which absolute power irrevocably leads to absolute corruption.

#4: Despite his talents as a film maker, Lucas has a full measure of flaws, including a great deal of creative insecurity.

This is evident in the numerous revisions Star Wars went through before actual production began, with the story and concepts changing radically from draft to draft. From his public interviews and from anecdotes related to be by witnesses, he appears very sensitive to any critique of his ideas, yet at the same time lacks to confidence in his own ability not to be affected by said critiques.

When he should listen to constructive criticism, he freezes it out.

As a result, the Star Wars saga is a massively self-contradictory construction, not really holding together in any substantial manner.

As has been noted, this is a problem inherent with all space operas, but some like Star Trek or Dune to a better job of keeping the issue off stage.

Star Wars constantly orbits around its inconsistency and, like a black hole, the inconsistencies can be pretty accurately mapped even if they can’t be seen.

#5: The single biggest threat to the Star Wars universe is the money.

Lucas’ brilliant insight was in securing trademarks and ///everything/// in his movies.

Like the universes of Robin Hood, Batman, Sesame Street, Transformers, and G.I. Joe, Star Wars is blessed with a large, colorful supporting cast.

This is great if you’re trying to sell toys / t-shirts / tchotchkes.

It’s a mixed blessing at best if you’re trying to tell a coherent story.

Instead of following the story where it wants to go, you often find yourself shaping it to sell more stuff.

There’s an enormous amount of pressure on the current conservators of Star Wars to KEEP THAT MONEY TRAIN ROLLING!!!

There is virtually no pressure to do it right.

(And, no, “making money” =/= “doing it right”.)

The very thing that makes Star Wars so appealing as a merchandising brand also threatens the basic appeal of the brand.

Sooner or later the audience is going to look away and find something else.

It will be sooner if the brand is presented poorly.

Disney is sensing the Star Wars money well may not be bottomless.

Episode IX will need to thread a narrow needle: Not contradict or nullify any substantial part of either The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi or the original trilogy or the prequels, but resolve all the story lines in a manner satisfactory to the original concept while at the same time leaving open enough potential to continue the series in a new-yet-similar direction.

#Star Wars #sci-fi #The Last Jedi #The Force Awakens #space opera #George Lucas #The Force #Splinter In The Mind’s Eye #The Return Of The Jedi

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eksbdan-blog · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://passingbynehushtan.com/2020/01/01/meaning-of-the-cross-part-3/

The Meaning of the Cross, part 3: Persecution

Meaning of the Cross and Persecution, Among Other Significations.

See the previous article, as this is the third in a trilogy, which begins with When I Survey the Wondrous Nace.

The luxury of what I do is that I don’t have to labor in deliberation and research in coming to some revelation. It’s not me. I’m no genius. I’m no holy man. I have read an ancient book and have read is plainly, and that book is a revelation. It’s hard to think about it as not, that’s all.

I think that there are two tendencies in which we indulge that keep us from this:

A refusal to settle on the one preeminent vital scriptural center to the faith, messianic prophecy, and

To compensate for this loss, the taking up theological issues that we are not in a position to know confirm true with certainty relative to that.

I think this is fundamentally a different kind of “biggest problem” we actually have.

Just to get your mind firmly against where we are going, to serve as a point of contrast, look for a moment at these videos:

youtube

vimeo

IF you don’t care for videos, go to these. If no, type in “the biggest problem in the church” and click on any link:

Here, the lack of “unity.” https://www1.cbn.com/questions/greatest-problem-facing-church

Here, its gossip: https://www.kcbi.org/it-might-be-the-biggest-problem-in-the-church-today/

Here, “biblical illiteracy”: https://christiantoday.com.au/news/the-biggest-problem-with-the-church-today.html

Here, gender identity, the struggle for truth in the public domain, Christians against immigration. Poverty, self-identity obsessed culture, and others: https://www.christianpost.com/voice/the-biggest-challenges-facing-the-church-in-2018.html

Folks, listen, the biggest problem in the church is that the church does not have a clue what the problem is, and that problem is one in which they have the least interest in so much as even offering as a possibility.

Of course, “biblical illiteracy” is the most promising. That is the biggest problem, but not general biblical illiteracy any more than a general ignorance and apathy. It’s about a certain kind.

Not to say that we should not take up these other issues to any degree or have any kind of certainty about them, to the contrary. Is faith progressive, by works, or momentary, by faith? Is Christ God or Man? Is the authority of faith and practice from tradition or scripture? Oldest NT text or textus receptus? I can’t count the weeks of obsession spent pursuing one cultural Christian “golden ticket” or another. I do not mean that we are not obliged to pursue these things. They are important. I mean that we are not to preoccupy ourselves with such questions by relegating to a comparatively ambiguous group the one topical preoccupation to which ordination we are as stewards.

Of course, if you have read much of this site so far you know what this biblical vital center of preoccupation is: the messianic oracles of Christ. This site is not for the intention of listing them and explaining them. Too much good work has been done and is available on that. The site is for reestablishing the whole prophetic biblical stream of the Messiah as the foundation of faith, lost since the deaths of the Apostles (1 Co 3:10). If your a Christian and right with God, but I have to go back and convince you that they are of an importance like no other truth you can extract from the Bible, then I might as well start obtaining my salvation by running a website that sells coffee pods and collect $1.00 donations that I send to World Vision. No, I want to convince Christians what grounding truths of the faith are lost without knowing it and one cares they don’t know, not what is long found, available like water, and everyone is already there gathering it.

Truth is Redundant

And I apologize if I sound so redundant from post to post, but the truth is redundant in a certain way. Not redundant in how many times its stated, but redundant in that when you know it you sound like a broken record talking about it. I don’t consider Christ’s or Paul to be wildly creative in how they were preaching. Compared to our cleverness they seem almost boring and simplistic. There is a whole lot of redundancy there, and a huge amount that is simply saying the same thing in a different way or context. But if there is one truth to which we are morally responsible it’s reasonable that this one truth would be one that creativity and cleverness are not supposed to be compensating for it. The power in this truth is not in the delivery of the message but the truth itself. How we present it is important, and redundancy of expression is a no-no, but when the revelation is this big the more we can get it out there and get ourselves out of the way of it, the more it will be allowed to release us only to its un-obstruction and our awe.

This is the only topic of scripture and the only phenomenon of scripture that can be said to be exclusively historical, fundamentally doctrinal, and that which is not removed from the revelation without completely destroying how it is conclusively demonstrated as true. Derived from this particular revelation are all of the doctrines we believe and entertain, not the other way around. The doctrines are not established as objectively true or false without the messianic oracular stream. We may believe doctrines, we may be able to supply reasoning and proof texts for them, but if they are not prophesied or come out of the implications of prophecy then our belief and devotion to them is not better than what ties people to any common anti-revelational, unrevealed religion. I repeat, the Oracles are the only biblical stream of scripture that proves God because it is history, and history is readily conceived as a miraculous cause and effect if there is a sure way to conceive it.

Our doctrines include those pertaining to salvation assurance, sacramental grace, and apostolic authority, salvation by faith alone, sola scriptura, the sovereignty of God, the day of worship, the existence of God, et al. These are the kinds of things with which we must deal and make a decision over, but they are not the ultimate revelations of the faith, they are not the end of the faith, they are not the directing influence of the faith, the fundamental concerns of the faith, but contingencies to one uber influence to faith: the scriptural phenomenon of messianic prophecy alone. No, not uber anything like the earthly ride-share service, but it is like the heavenly one.

The doctrines are conclusions and tropes of the philosophy of the Christian religion. They are not its supreme significations, but this is only the demonstrated truth of a transcendent revelation. The single most important doctrine is “Jesus is Messiah.” This simple fact is the main one that both the Patristics, the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, and all the stripes in between have stumbled upon (Isa 8:14; 1Pe 2:8). Not that they don’t believe Jesus is Messiah, but that Truth is more important than tropes. But if this is honestly dealt with, it can radically change one’s fundamental relationship with the faith and change one’s life, ala 1st century, not 21st. It remains indisputable that the direct or indirect teaching of the church is that faith motivation is driven by an assent to creeds, doctrinal and propositional truth, church authority, tradition or sensibility. By this, and for no other reason, the church being destroyed from within.

Our conception of the meaning of the Cross as aligning with a religious concept or doctrine instead of the oracles is part and central to this problem.

The following is an easy commentary by proof text on the meaning of the Cross. Please keep in mind this is only an introduction to my thesis and not meant to be an exhaustive treatment.

Please go to the next page…

1. Meaning of the Cross: The Cross in the context of persecution.

The Cross does not first mean “death” or “altar” or “atonement” or “sacrifice.” The meaning of the cross does not principally mean “reconciliation.” It means the messianic oracles, through which these concepts come. A casual look at what the NT speaks as persecution for the cross identifies the precise motivations of those who are being persecuted and those who are persecuting, not the motivations to which we hypocritically ascribe.

Galatians 6:12: As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

That is the most direct statement about persecution for the Cross. All real persecution is for the Cross of Christ. The “the Cross of Christ” is almost self-revealing. True persecution, first and foremost for the advancement a doctrine rather than from mere cruelty, is that kind where perpetrators understand the gospel and its implications at least subconsciously, not those who do so in complete ignorance. If the persecution of an evangelist is because of that ignorance, especially if he loses his life over it, this is persecution, but its the kind that no preacher of the gospel wants because it represents a mistake, not an act from knowledge. Real evangelists accept a bearing up under persecution as honoring to God when he accurately gets his message out and he is punished for its understanding, not its misunderstanding. When it is not from this it is spoken of as a tragedy and a senseless loss. When spoken of in terms of the kind that emulates Christ’s, who died at the instigation and hands of the religious intelligentsia, then it is a triumph and an honor for the persecuted and the greatest conceivable sin for the persecutor.

So mentioned is this persecution for the Cross of Christ, appropriately, in the book of Galatians, where the subject is Judaizers that are going around visiting synagogues and leading people away by a false gospel, particularly one of obeying the Law of Moses as a part of the Justification-faith/salvation cause and effect.

But consider before I start all this what the phrase “Cross of Christ” means. Does it merely mean the wood upon which was murdered Jesus? Does it mean the horrible form of death that he died? Does it mean the altar of sacrifice upon which he, the offering, was made? Does it mean, I don’t know, the “love” upon which he gave himself to the Father for us?” Go through all the commentaries you can get your hands on and pick one. What they all say like myna birds one way or another is that “Christ” just means the person of “Jesus” and “Cross” just means, in this case, a physical object or a conceptual object, in the best case a result of deliberation over another conclusion of theology. There is nothing about this way we think about this phrase that begs an investigation or shows itself to be one that came out of a divine disclosure of supernatural information, and the way we think about it gives the world no reason to think it as not just another creative religious proposition that we have taken on blind faith as true. But “Cross of Christ” does not mean what we have assigned to it and despite our efforts to mute its power, it’s going to keep shining its light to anyone that cares to see it.

“Christ” of course is the person Jesus, but its a prophetic title, “Messiah.” Before Jesus can be a person that we take seriously as more than a man he has to be Messiah, credentialed by his fulfillment of the oracles. “Cross,” no matter how much we don’t want it to be, is more than a physical or conceptual object of the imagination or theological calculus, it is those supernatural oracles, and those oracles are what Jesus was willingly bound to fulfill, especially those that spoke of his death. Yes, it is an altar, but the altar was also a prophetic type of radically specialized exhaled position, off the earth, upon which the immobilized, promised sacrifice is struck and killed and then given to the priests for consumption. The Altar is the very prophecies of an ultimate atonement through a single divine individual, and the same as the Moses staff or his pole in Numbers 21, which I endeavor to expose here. “Cross of Christ” is literally: the prophetic Word of God for which Messiah received, willingly obeyed, and gave himself up for the special and revealed spiritual nourishment and the salvation of the world through faith.

Now, these Jews of Galatians are not ignorant of the oracles, they are experts. The knew that Jesus was the Messiah by the Scriptures, but they wanted to stop there and not take it to its logical conclusion. They knew that honesty about the gospel is honesty about the self-sufficiency of faith, and if there is any faith it must be predicated on the self-sufficiency of these scriptures of the Messiah for a unique prophetic faith and practice. It’s not about “faith,” a general conception, it’s about “prophetic faith,” a specialized one, and the Cross represents that motivation. The Judaizers sound a lot like the church today, do they not?

Real persecution occurs when the religious, philosophical, political doctrines are placed first against the revelation of the Cross, the “Cross,” again, being a symbol of the prophetic fulfillment, first of the Messiah’s death by prophetic obedience. In this instance, Paul is saying that the Galatian Jews are trying to soften and blur the requirements of the New Covenant spiritual Law which Paul preaches by saying that you must keep Moses’s commandments, statutes, ordinances, and judgments or one is not saved or will be. They refused to allow the prophetic implications to modify what they really loved: religion, and religion does not denote anything but spiritual industry out of the natural mind and heart of man.

This makes them allowed to be pious in their cowardice and dodge that one thing about genuine Christianity that they and the world hate to distraction, Faith is not about Jesus’ execution in the most disgusting way imaginable and we feel sorry for him. It’s not about a belief in propitiatory sacrifice or substitutionary atonement. They are true, but only true conclusions, not necessarily premised supernaturally. What God wants is faith in Him expressed only by the motivation of the demonstrated Truth this sacrifice is real, is universally applicable and efficacious. This is what gives life to Christian ideational symbols of faith. You would think that everyone genuinely wants this, but you would be as wrong as the East is from the West, and because we do not understand this we never will get the Gordian knot of our theology and evangelism untangled. We don’t want clarity, we want mystery and difficulty, because this is what carnality is used to, its the way of the fallen world, and we get a lot of praise for standing up to it and trying to defeat it.

2. Meaning of the Cross: Taking up the Cross.

This does not first mean taking one’s “death” or any such ideational permutation. It means the taking up of the possibility or of one’s own persecution and death in emulation of Jesus prophetically fulfilled death, and in fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy that all his followers will suffer persecution. Therefore, the Cross signifying the oracles of Jesus, taking up those oracles is the taking up of the Messiah’s Word as a faith motivation and the consequences that come with it. This puts a very different slant on the verses below, which require no explanation and are consistent through every occurrence, but I’ll offer you some. For example:

Matthew 10:38: Paraphrase of the chapter: “This is what will happen to someone who believes and my Word, the same that will happen to me for fulfilling my Father’s Word“

Matthew 16:24: Context in which Jesus explains the meaning of true “bread,” the asks Peter who he thinks he is. Peter replies “you are Messiah the Son of God,” with Jesus answering “upon this Rock I will build my Church. Tells him this is the Keys of the Kingdom. Prophesies his death in Jerusalem. Jesus predicts persecution for his believers through this key of revelation, ending with another of many prophecies in this chapter: “verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”

Mark 8:34: Again, after feeding the five thousand with his supernatural “bread,” the Prophetic Word, and opening the eyes of a blind man in Bethsaida, a figure for illumination by this Word, he asks Peter who he says he is. After Peter says “Messiah,” Jesus prophesies: “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Peter rebukes him for this, assuming his physical life is worth more than this Word of the Father that must be fulfilled. This is itself a prediction of the Church rejecting the Prophetic Word under the appearance of piety (v.33). Christ prophesies again that those who will believe this fulfilled Word, and fulfill it themselves by faith, are those who have taken it up, who believe it, and have accepted it as the most important thing imaginable.

Mark 10:21: Jesus tells the rich young ruler how to inherit eternal life:

“Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.”

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Jesus uses the Law and giving to the poor as symbols for the true faith which leads to eternal life. He uses the young man’s corrupt religious affections as a witness against him. These are only primers, not ends, to the true faith expressions, is spiritual, and of faith. It is not in the Word’s prior and unfulfilled pedagogic expressions. A true treasure in Heaven is not by giving to the poor, its first belief in the Prophetic Word of Christ and then putting nothing of value before it. The “rich” will hardly enter the Kingdom of God, implying that “rich” means rich in truth, rich in faith, rich in works of self-denial, not self-satisfaction, to demonstrate that particular faith in that particular Word. In vss. 33 and 34, Jesus again prophesies his death in Jerusalem, a fulfillment of the Prophets.

3. Meaning of the Cross: Coming down from the Cross.

The phrase by the persecutors further serves to illustrate the meaning of the Cross and the reasons why they are persecuting Jesus and will persecute all believers.

Matthew 27:40: “And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” That is, give up your oath to the Father to fulfill the prophecies, to fail as the scriptural Messiah in exchange for acclaim as a Rabbi, a King, a good man, or a wonderworking false Messiah outside of the Scriptures.” Messiah is by choice nailed, bound to the oracles to fulfill them, but this is encouraging him to willfully remove that binding in a replacement miracle.

Mark 15:30: Again the inverse expression to taking up the Cross: not to take up the Cross but to put it down. The scoffers and revilers at the foot of the Cross tell Jesus, the one who prophesied the destruction of the Temple that they take as a false prophecy, to come down from it and they will believe in Him (Mark 15:32, Mat 27:40). True disbelief demonstrates true belief. “Come down from the Cross” is an exhortation to fail prophetically. To keep religion but jettison the singular spiritual motivation for all righteous religion. Here is another way of saying “fail as Messiah and we will set you up as King of our religious affections, but not before.” If one disbelieves, one disbelieves messianic prophecy. If one believes, one believes messianic prophecy.

4. Meaning of the Cross: Pilate marks the Cross unwittingly as the Oracles of Messiah.

John 19:19: “And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.” The sign nailed to the Cross is a Pilate nailing, binding, affixing, setting its signification as the Prophetic Word of Jesus with a prophecy. King of the Jews, is a promise, a prophecy, and the greatest one of all, and also its conclusion in fulfillment. Jesus was fulfilling the credentials for this title KING, as well as the meaning of the composition of true faith. Pilate is, wittingly or unwittingly, saying that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah, to the rage of the Jews who demanded it taken down.

5. Meaning of the Cross: The Cross as the basis for theology.

Pertaining to the power and content of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 1:17: “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”

This has nothing to do with death and everything to do with Jesus’ “prophesied death” as the content to the gospel message. Christ sends Paul to publicize the truth of the Messiah from the prophets, not to teach religion. You can forget water baptism, but you can’t forget that.

1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

“Preaching of the cross” is not about Jesus’ “death” or for our own faith or for a religious reason, but for His. It’s a kind of preaching content about the death and resurrection of Jesus as foretold through the prophets. It’s a faith in a particular reason that is miraculous and of the Word.

Pertaining to the aversion to the oracles by the world, or quintessential sin.

Galatians 5:11: “And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offense of the cross ceased.”

Same as above. The offense of the Cross is also not the offense of the notion of the Messiah dying on a cruel and disgusting cross. Personal persecution is because of the content and implications of the prophetic message we peach.

Pertaining to the dedication to the Spirit and the alienation from the world, or sanctification.

Galatians 6:14” “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

This power of this Cross of Christ in Paul’s spirit makes the believer crucified, or as physically dead, to the world and his flesh, but alive to the Spirit. This another exclusive statement of Paul as to the content of his faith and the content of his preaching set exclusively upon messianic prophecy. See Gal 2:20; Ac 20:23-24; Ro 6:6; 1Jo 5:4-5.

Pertaining to the gentile’s en-grafting.

Ephesians 2:15: “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” Ephesians 2: 16: “And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Explained by Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

The Cross and the blood of Christ are, respectively, the entire corpus of the revelation of the Messiah from the OT and the particular fulfillment of Messiah’s death. This revelation is given to the whole world, without respect of persons, and is a unifying truth that brings everyone together through faith as a particular spiritual race prepared for a heavenly Kingdom.

Pertaining to the permanent change in the view of the Law

Colossians 2:14: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”

This is very difficult for us to understand because we don’t get the centrality of the witness of the OT prophets for faith. Never was it meant that the Law was to be fulfilled by mortals. Not that no one can live a life in perfect obedience to the moral and ceremonial Law, but impossible for a mortal to fulfill the credentials of the Messiah except Jesus, which is the superior moral and ceremonial obedience to the Law. The old, unfulfilled Law died by the Cross of Messianic Prophecy itself. Its Paul��s way of saying that absorbed was the Law into the implications of the fulfillment of the prophetic of Jesus. We have no obligation to obey a Law that we never could fulfill, but our moral obedience comes directly through faith in those fulfilled prophecies by Jesus, who fulfilled them for us. Not that he was fulfilling them in our place, but that he fulfilled them to give to us the ultimate reason for believing in any conception of God: he conclusively proved himself as an objective reality, not an imaginative concept. Luther badly misunderstood this, that Jesus fulfilled the Law in our place as a substitute, which is true, but not by assuming that the Law was only the command of God for us to physically obey, and not that the essence of spirituality to faith is by feelings and religious intuition. It’s about spiritual obedience, and if spiritual obedience through spiritual action it’s through handling and placing faith upon Christ’s fulfillment of the Law through the prophets which were given to us in our place of helplessness to provide it on our own, which is the superior moral fulfillment to a kind which is only an obedience to a stricture. This is a statement that salvation requires work only if “work” is something that goes on by us in our spirits, which is not the idea of “work” which Paul spoke of as being futile by any means.

Pertaining to Christology

Philippians 2:8: “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Obedient to the prophecies, our same faith making us obedient to him. “Death” and Cross” are prophecies and the whole of the revelation that predicted Christ’s sacrifice.

Pertaining to the essence of anti-revelational religion.

Philippians 3:18 “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:

They are enemies because they do not emulate the oracles of Christ in their own lives. Christ fulfilled them, and they do not by refusing to motivate their faith and religion by them.

Pertaining to the atonement and the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:20: “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”

The blood of the Cross is the promises of his crucifixion and death and their fulfillment. Peace is peace of a prophetic faith and no longer struggling for understanding and waiting for the prophetic outcome and the completion of the prophetic plan.

To the motivation of Jesus in carrying out the plan of redemption.

Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Enduring the Cross is enduring the lethal mandate for him to fulfill it. “Author and finisher of our faith” refers not only to the person of Christ but to the promises of Jesus and their finisher in His fulfillment of them. This, in turn, becomes our faith as well.

The Meaning of the Cross?

The Cross, as well as Jesus, is a sign to be spoken against (Luke 2:34). It’s a stumbling block. The smallest problem that the Christian has, or should have, will be magnified into the biggest one it has if not returned to its original meaning the identification of the essential nature of the doctrines of sin and righteousness in the Word of God and Christ’s Cross.

Please see the next article in this series: The Meaning of the Cross: part 4, the Atonement

Matthew 5 and the Adultery of the Heart: Passing by Nehushtan

An Analysis of the Brazen Serpent Imagery: Passing by Nehushtan

When I Survey the Wondrous Nace, part 1: Passing by Nehushtan

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