Jean Stringam's Blog - Posts Tagged "adventure-tale"
THE WISE MEN: A CHRISTMAS ADVENTURE is here!
My Christmas novella is live in the Kindle Store! Go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ANO68P4
Summary: In a city sequestered by futuristic technology from the ways of the Middle East in 1 A. D., three friends learn about evil and love as they join in the journey of a lifetime with the Worship Caravan bound for the Messiah.
You can read it as revisionist history, as fantasy, as an exploration of the hazards of Utopia, or simply as an adventure tale. I'd love to hear your responses.
ISBN: 978-0-9855540-3-3
Summary: In a city sequestered by futuristic technology from the ways of the Middle East in 1 A. D., three friends learn about evil and love as they join in the journey of a lifetime with the Worship Caravan bound for the Messiah.
You can read it as revisionist history, as fantasy, as an exploration of the hazards of Utopia, or simply as an adventure tale. I'd love to hear your responses.
ISBN: 978-0-9855540-3-3
Revisionist History of the Wise Men
I call my new Christmas novella, The Wise Men: A Christmas Adventure, revisionist history because it tells how an event could have happened. The New Testament gives us very little information, just Matthew 2: 1-12. We don’t know who they were, how many there were, nor where they were from. Marco Polo names three men from Saba, Persia. And that’s about it as far as historical texts go.
My favorite novel EVER in this genre (besides my own, of course) is Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by O.S. Card in which he shows how a few changes create the Butterfly Effect in the exploration of the New World. The result is a completely different scenario. His research is comprehensive and his novelistic skills formidable. Plus, his world view gives us hope for humanity because history could have turned out differently. He envisions mankind as redeemable.
A novel that had equal potential was Jim Fergus’ One Thousand White Women. I respect his research and admire his historical perspectives, but the novel plays out to the same bitter end as real history. That means the author could not envision change. His view is that mankind is too racist, too hard-hearted, too bloody-minded to ever create a more enlightened scenario. What’s the good of that? Even if it’s true of some of us, does it help us live out our lives with any modicum of nobility or optimism if we believe that we are inherently venal creations?
My revisionist history of the Wise Men began with a deep-seated aversion to all the traditions that have grown up around them. For one thing, I can’t believe the Wise Men were astrologers. It seems to me they were inspired, Godly men. But then, how could they have possibly made the error of visiting Herod first? That was one of the questions that intrigued me when I began thinking through the plot.
More later . . .
My favorite novel EVER in this genre (besides my own, of course) is Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by O.S. Card in which he shows how a few changes create the Butterfly Effect in the exploration of the New World. The result is a completely different scenario. His research is comprehensive and his novelistic skills formidable. Plus, his world view gives us hope for humanity because history could have turned out differently. He envisions mankind as redeemable.
A novel that had equal potential was Jim Fergus’ One Thousand White Women. I respect his research and admire his historical perspectives, but the novel plays out to the same bitter end as real history. That means the author could not envision change. His view is that mankind is too racist, too hard-hearted, too bloody-minded to ever create a more enlightened scenario. What’s the good of that? Even if it’s true of some of us, does it help us live out our lives with any modicum of nobility or optimism if we believe that we are inherently venal creations?
My revisionist history of the Wise Men began with a deep-seated aversion to all the traditions that have grown up around them. For one thing, I can’t believe the Wise Men were astrologers. It seems to me they were inspired, Godly men. But then, how could they have possibly made the error of visiting Herod first? That was one of the questions that intrigued me when I began thinking through the plot.
More later . . .
Adventure Tale = Map
One of my dear, reliable readers marched out of her study waving my manuscript and announced, "This can't be an adventure tale. There's no map!"
It was true. The Wise Men: A Christmas Adventure had to have a map. No hero or heroine can EVER embark on an adventure unless the novelist provides a map. It's the unmistakable signal to the reader that exciting events in all sorts of places are about to happen. And finding an illustrator--Jill Davis--who would turn my hand-scrawled version into art became one of the joys of Christmas 2012.
I titled the map "Locations Seen and Unseen" because it juxtaposes the known with the unknown. My novella takes as its premise that Northern Israel at the time of the Assyrian Dispersion in 721 B.C. had good people who didn't deserve the same fate as the wicked. We've all heard of the Lost Ten Tribes. Well, my novella gives an alternate history for where some of them went and how they co-existed with people of the Middle East, unknown and undiscovered for centuries, until the Meridian of Time.
It was true. The Wise Men: A Christmas Adventure had to have a map. No hero or heroine can EVER embark on an adventure unless the novelist provides a map. It's the unmistakable signal to the reader that exciting events in all sorts of places are about to happen. And finding an illustrator--Jill Davis--who would turn my hand-scrawled version into art became one of the joys of Christmas 2012.
I titled the map "Locations Seen and Unseen" because it juxtaposes the known with the unknown. My novella takes as its premise that Northern Israel at the time of the Assyrian Dispersion in 721 B.C. had good people who didn't deserve the same fate as the wicked. We've all heard of the Lost Ten Tribes. Well, my novella gives an alternate history for where some of them went and how they co-existed with people of the Middle East, unknown and undiscovered for centuries, until the Meridian of Time.
Children's Carol
I write a song for each book I publish, and particularly enjoyed writing the carol for The Wise Men: A Christmas Adventure. In the story, the children of the city sing the lullaby as the caravan leaves on its quest to worship the Messiah."Where Is the Newborn Child?" can be sung unison, but the duet is always lovely. You can download a free pdf of the sheet music on my web site. I've included another version with a violin or flute obbligato for the more musically adventurous.
I'd love to hear about your experiences with the carol, okay?
