LEAGUE OF SUPERHEROES, by Stephen Leon Rice

Warning! My review of LEAGUE OF SUPERHEROES, by Stephen Leon Rice may be somewhat biased. It’s not that I’m biased towards the author, although I suppose a case could be made for that. Instead, however, it has to do with me personally. Let me explain.

Growing up I loved comic books, specifically superhero comic books. When I was barely into school I had a dream that I was superman. At one point I wanted to be Thor, but that didn’t sit right with my Christian faith. Then I wanted to be Captain America, until I found out he had some kind of fictitious super-serum injected into him to make him that way. I wanted to be Spiderman too, but doubted that being bitten by any spider would alter me in any way. (Back then we didn’t talk about DNA because we didn’t know that much about genetics). I liked Dare Devil, but aside from the fact that I’m not blind I doubted I’d ever come into the kind of money that allowed him to build an extravagant gym in his NYC brownstone home. So I settled for Black Hawk, an archer and member of the Avengers. I even made at least part of a costume that I planed to wear when I fought crime. I had my own bow and quiver of arrows, and I was a pretty decent archer. A friend of mine made a Flash costume and I once took a picture of him running in our backyard. I moved the camera to make it look like he was running fast. So you see folks, these superheroes were a prominent part of my childhood. Even after growing up I started creating some of my own superheroes, after a fashion. Maybe “super” is a bit much, but I was bound and determined to at least create heroes. (I’m still a comic fan to this day).

In any event Stephen L. Rice has done a superb job of giving us a great storyline, a believable premise about "real" superheroes, and a lot of his own style of humor. Just thinking about 4 teenagers suddenly equipped to battle crime in supersuits brings a smile to my face, especially the geekish kind of kids here. While I wasn't a geek, I was ostracized from many social circles in high school, and the ones I did make it into I felt more klutzy than anything else. Needless to say, high school was not one of my better periods of life.

So what do we have? We have a story narrated by Tom Riley, whose special interests is in linguistics, which he feels isn't really a science, so his natural techno hero is Darklight, who has the power to fly and be invisible. We have three of his friends, Rod Davies, the math and physics geek, who is described as being a "bean pole" (so it's no surprise that his favorite superhero is Titan, kind of a flying humanoid tank), Allen Peters, the computer hacker whose attention to the speed of things draws him to the techno hero Tachyon, and Charlie Taylor, who fancied himself as being called into the mission field as a medical doctor. Charlie's hero was Micromegas, a techno hero with the ability to change size, however, since Charlie saw himself as a future doctor enlarging himself didn't appeal to him as much as shrinking himself down. Well, we all have our dreams, fantacies, heroes, etc. The difference is this band of "Mad Scientists" have their dreams come true when Allen's little sister, Clarice, introduces them to Genie, a 7 year old girl she met in Kidchat. The problem with this 7 year old girl is that she is smarter than Einstein and Newton put together and then there's this problem that she doesn't remember any family members ever, only a friendly man she calls "Uncle". As the story unfolds so do the problems, the humor, the despiration and the action. This is one fantastic ride, especially for someone like me who likes superheroes.

Meanwhile back in the real world, we really can become heroes, after a fashion. No we don't have techo-powered supersuits (at least not yet), but those of us who know Jesus have the power of God available to us. It seems to me that we should focus on that. How can a Christian be a superhero? Well, we have the power of love, which breaks down practically every wall we come up to, and faith. The two have to be worked together. Jesus said that if we had faith in Him we could tell a mountain to through itself in the sea and it would happen. Now that's super, right? More to the point, we run into the arch-enemy, Satan, or at least one of his cronies, on a daily basis. They whisper in our ears trying to get us to look at something, consider something, hold doubt in our heart. If we listen to these voices they are like Kryptonite was to Superman. It's no wonder there are so many people hurting in the world. We, however, have the power of God living in us. If the power to die and come back to life isn't a superpower I don't know what is. God also creates, and has given us the ability to create on our own limited scale. Artists of every type, graphic, music and even us writers, exhibit this God given power. A lot of times, however, I think we're just as poorly equipped emotionally, to handle these powers as the League of Superheroes. We're tiny babies in this period of eternity. Yet even then we can get direction and wisdom from our Heavenly Father and shut down the enemy. That's our job. We have way too many people out there who are falling down on a battlefield they aren't even aware they are on. We know and have the power to go out and rescue them, to get them out of harms way. We can bring them to our Commander, Jesus, who will make all things new. Look to Eph. 6:10-18 and read about the whole armor of God. Then saddle up. It's time to stand up against the enemy and get the wounded off the field. It's time for us to be superheroes. - David Brollier


Okay, folks over at the Christian Fiction Review Blog are having this Tag Team Tour, and since you are here, "Tag. You're it." You found out where today's post is, that is if you came here today, on Wednesday. For Thursday, Friday and Saturday you'll need to hunt the links below to try and find out who is posting. Also, if you are here today you might want to find out who posted on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Same thing goes, "Tag. You're it." Have fun. Enjoy the other posts and the other sites. Don't be surprised to make some new friends along the way. That's why their doing it this way.






Now just because you read the review and have all those links up there doesn't mean that you have all the scoop. If you want to find out more about Stephen Leon Rice you can click his button "Back to the Mountains" below .



And of course you probably want to know where you can read more about this great book and purchase it, so here are some links:

The Writer's Cafe Press
Amazon Books

As far as info is concerned you can't beat Steve's site above, but if you don't have the time to go through all the in depth look at the techno-superheroes try the following site which is loaded with info in a short format:

http://ansric.pbwiki.com/LoSseries

And don't forget the giveaway. That's right Cathi Hassan is giving away a copy of LEAGUE OF SUPERHEROES, by Stephen Rice. To view the details visit her site Cathi's Chatter. You don't want to pass this up.

Remembering Our Heroes

On December 7th, 1941, sixty seven years ago, the attack on Pearl Harbor was devastating. The Japanese had hoped to bring us to our knees, and so they did, in prayer and action. In months we had a fleet that arose out of the ashes of that attack that went on to defeat them in the Pacific. We were not brought low, but realized how lazy we had become and arose to meet the enemy with a determination even the Japanese could not understand. In Europe it was the same. We had watched silently as allied nations teetered and fell under the weight of Adolf Hitler's crushing invasions, but when we entered the war we brought with us something he did not expect. We brought with us the heart of a nation determined to silence the weeping of our allies and still the hand that harmed them. We brought with us a weapon they did not expect, for we brought God with us.

On September 1st, 2001, only seven short years ago, terrorists took over planes and smashed them and all aboard, into the Twin Trade Towers and the Pentagon. Another plane, seemingly headed for a target in Washington, was brought down by the passengers who knew their fate before they rushed these terrorists. Christians witnessed to office workers as the towers billowed with smoke and others jumped out of windows to escape the flames. Every sort of emergency worker pitched in to help find those left in the rubble, hopefully alive. Some of them have died from the smoke they inhaled, others from sheer terror, but most remain, living with the horrors they witnessed. That day, as on December 7th, 1941, America wept.

There is a slight difference between these two events. In the former the people got behind the military and stayed there, if they couldn't join themselves. They resolved to conclude this war on behalf of fellow Americans they had never met. Today, society seems to have forgotten the attacks on the United States. Instead of getting behind the military, who staunchly persevere in unbelievably hostile environments and conditions, we seem to have gotten lazy once again. We want them to come home, not realizing that to do so would bring the war home with them. The newly elected president has said he will remove our presence from Iraq and move them into Afghanistan, which is no more friendly than where they are now, nor less hazardous. Now look at the picture above. They are remembering us, willing to take a stand in whatever land our nation sends them that we might enjoy the continued freedoms of this democracy. They bow their heads before the Almighty God and ask for the strength to keep us, and if possible, them safe. And largely we have forgotten them. We have forgotten to bow our heads before our Creator for their protection, for their safety, and for thanks that these brave men and women have chosen to stand in "harm's way" for us. May we be humbled before the Lord God and repent. May we turn back to Him and away from ourselves. For in doing so we shall find the courage to continue to do right, the power to stand against evil and the pride in being the people God has chosen us to be.

Perhaps we need to be reminded of the words of Abraham Lincoln as he summed up what is known now as the Gettysburg Address. He had come to be part of the dedication of a national cemetery for the fallen at Gettysburg, PA. Yet instead of dedicating the field he offered these words, words which we would do well to remember today,

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

LEAPS OF FAITH, by Rob and Karina Fabian is an anthology of faith in action, and in science fiction. It is an interesting work, much like INFINITE SPACE, INFINITE GOD, which they also compiled. Written by different writers of varying degrees of public exposure, I'm sure you'll find something in here that you'll like. If you're like me, you'll probably find this a bit "too Catholic". Don't get me wrong. I truly believe that if a Catholic has called upon the Lord then they are saved, or born again, whichever term you'd like to use. I did find the exclusion of other denominations a bit disturbing, and some of the traditions of the elders that have displaced the teachings of the Catholic Church have also bothered me. However, having said all of that, at least 75% of these stories show, not only great story writing, but good, solid Christian teachings.

My favorite is, well, I had a couple running neck and neck. I'll only give you one of them though. "God's Gift", by Greg Beatty, who incidentally has 2 stories in this work, both of which I found great merit, is the story I'm going with for my favorite. Here is a man working on FTL transportation (that's faster than light), and he's come up against a wall. When he experiments with it he gets up to a certain point and then there are all kinds of terrible results. Given the ultimatum of success or being the next person to travel in his FTL machine, the scientist works feverishly at overcoming the problem. What happens next is beautiful. A failure turns into a victory. To tell you more would be to take the story away from you, and I don't wish to do that. This story is so good that you've just got to get this book if only to read this one story. It's that powerful, wonderful and marvelously written.

Funny thing is, this story reflects true life more than we'd like to admit. I've heard preachers say, "We raise our hands because it's a sign of surrender. And that's what we must do, surrender to the Lord." I've found in my own life that it's when we come to the end of ourselves that we frequently find ourselves nose-to-nose with God. He's been there all the time, but our pride has hidden our ability to see Him. There's a song where the writer suddenly realizes why God has taken so much away from them, "Because You cannot fill hands that are already full." So do a spiritual check of your life. Are there things in there that are keeping you from enjoying the fullness of God? I'll be the first to say "Yes". So what are we going to do about it? Do we dare go on like this, carrying our burdens as if we were meant to do penance of some sort, or do we drop them at the Cross and let Jesus take them. The choice is ours. It may not be the difference between salvation and damnation, but it very well may be the difference between enjoying the full blessings of coming into God's presence as His child, and being cut off from His fellowship...sort of like a "time out". You see, God disciplines the children He loves. So if you aren't getting disciplined then there's a good chance that you aren't His child. In fact Scripture says you aren't.

David Brollier

Don't forget to visit Rob and Karina's site at:

FabianSpace

Purchase Leaps of Faith at
The Writer's Cafe Press.
and at Amazon

Check out the YouTubeVideo.

And the Leaps of Faith website

Check out these other member blogs this week for more
info.
By the way, I know of at least one of these sites that will be having multiple posts, including a live interview with the compilers of this anthology. I'm not going to tell you who it is. You're going to have to find that out for yourself. After all, this is a game of Tag.

COME TO ME, by Laura Davis

Hey! This is a mystery writers blog! What's a historical fiction about the life of Jesus doing here? Glad you asked. Every so often a book comes along that reaches in and touches your heart. COME TO ME, by Laura Davis is such a book. If I'd written it I'm sure I would have done several things different, but the thing is, I wasn't called to write a book like this. Seeing it in print wishes that God would call me to write something like this.

The story is about Jesus, but it isn't from the perspective of one of the apostles. Instead it is from the perspective of one much closer to Him, His mother. When we read the Bible we see Mary coming up here and there, but Laura Davis has gone to the trouble of tying all this together in an amazing narrative in which Mary, in different stages of her life, recalls the life of our Lord. It is tender, refreshing and touching. It doesn't gloss over the hard things, but helps to connect some of the historical points that have been left untouched. We get to meet Mary before Jesus is born and realize all that she had to go through. We see Jesus as a young boy, a young man, and finally as a rabbi who taught from town to town, hillside to hillside, house to house, teaching, healing and giving comfort wherever He could. And we have accounts of His death and resurrection. Yet you would expect all of that when telling the story of Jesus. It is the way she does it that is so startling and touching.

I believe this book should be in the home of every Christian, and they should share it with as many non-Christians as possible. It speaks to us in places in our hearts that we may have forgotten about. It speaks to us of a Jesus who was real, a mother who loved Him more than His disciples could know, and how we, who have become His children, are His living legacy. I love this book.

David Brollier

PS. Paul talks about the plan of salvation for the Gentiles as being a mystery that was made known after His resurrection, so I guess you could say this is a "mystery solved".


Check out these member blogs Sept. 7-13 for more info.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday

And whatever you do, visit Laura Davis' site at:






Then of course you'll want to buy the book. You can find it for sale at:

CFRB tours CHION, by Darryl Sloan

If some of you find this format familiar, well, it's because working with 2 blogs it's much easier for me to just cut and past the links and graphics. But enough about me. This is about a really great book. I know, you hear me say that about most books CFRB tours. I guess God is just blessing CFRB with talented writers.

CHION is about snow. Actually the word is derived from the Greek word for snow. Perhaps unknown to Darryl Sloan there have been disaster stories about snow, whether it's white outs, avalanches, blocked passages, or being stranded in the middle of nowhere in a car that has buried it's wheels in snow so it can't get out. There are literally tons of stories about snow, but none about "sticky snow". That's right. Imagine, if you will, rushing out to enjoy the freshly fallen snow in the beginning of Winter only to find that as soon as your foot touches the stuff it's fastened to the ground just as securely as if someone nailed your foot to the ground. Where's your body's momentum taking you? Where you wanted to go to begin with. Perhaps your second foot follows in step, and it too becomes secured to the ground. Then, finding yourself falling you put your hands out to brace yourself, only they get stuck too and you brake your arms or wrists as the weight of your body falls, and gets stuck as well, against arms that you can't move out of the way. Frightening, isn't it? This is the world that Darrly Sloan plunges his readers. He's not through with you yet though. He makes you do this as a 13 or 14 year old boy or girl.

The story starts off with a bang, and things just keep on coming at you. It's like being in the middle of a fireworks display. You really don't know what's coming next, but you can hardly wait to find out. I highly recommend that you read this book. If you can't afford it, Darrly has an e-book that you can download. It's not quite the same in my opinion, but at least you'll be able to enjoy this wonderful story.

One of the things you may realize is it's not about this "sticky snow" as much as it is about people, specifically Jamie Metcalfe and Tara Morton. Through their eyes we see how people act and react under pressure. We learn things about ourselves, and do so without really realizing that's what is going on. If any of you have ever read BLACK BEAUTY, you'll know that the book wasn't about a horse at all. Like CHION, it was about people. If you still aren't convinced, visit the main CFRB site (just click on the banner above) or click on any of the CFRB member's buttons below. I'm pretty sure that you'll come to agree that at the very least this is one book that deserves your attention.

David Brollier
Christian Mystery Writers

Visit Darryl's Homepage
Also His Purchase Direct Page

Sorry gang, can't find him on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Borders

The following CFRB Members have reviews and/or interviews.
Just click on the "button" to go to these CFRB member sites.



The following sites will post cover art and synopsis: