Blog Archives
Miss Sally: and the Sinners That God Ignores
Miss Sally by Robert Joe Stout is a portrait of a young girl growing up in Texas in the 1930’s. Through trial and error 13-year-old Sally Halm finds out about sex, relationships, and what it means to engage in this behavior without love. She painfully learns what it’s like to be a woman in rural Texas during the great depression and how the church expects women to behave. After patterns of abuse, devastating discoveries, and misguided adventures she learns what it means to be saved and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
My initial reaction when I began reading this book was one of excitement. I love history, and the 1930’s are one of my favorite eras because of how much was going on across the country. The Great Depression left a tremendous impact on the families affected. After getting a few pages in, however, it was difficult for me to place myself in the characters shoes.
This story gets better as it progresses and when I was further in I was unable to put it down. The writing style while not my favorite was engaging as the characters started to come to life. I especially enjoyed how Mr. Stout wrote Sally’s relationship with her mother. The relationship felt realistic to me because of my own experiences as a 13-year-old and how my mom and I got along.
Sally is a simple minded girl, she is not beautiful, and her family treats her this way. While her sisters, Judy and Hill’ry are thought to be beautiful. As a result of the treatment, she receives Sally has a low self-esteem and her sisters, lovers, and her imagination can quickly persuade her into things she doesn’t want to do. Through all of this, I noted that Sally still seeks the approval of her family and loves them very much.
Sally eventually becomes more curious and finds herself in trouble. After being landing in a church revival, one woman’s story sticks out to her in a way so profound she doesn’t feel she has done wrong enough to be saved by the Lord. She paints her own picture of this woman and believes she has to be like her to be truly saved. This event along with her sister’s encouragement lead to Sally’s dark fate. After what seems like years of abuse and bad decisions Miss Sally goes with her mother to be saved but is once again given the short end of the stick.
Sex and coming of age are two major themes in this story, and Mr. Stout’s rural writing style helps with the setting. Had this story been written any differently the plot wouldn’t have made sense. It was compelling and painted a strong picture of life for a young girl at that time.
Pages: 291 | ASIN: B071HL6YMJ
Hidden in Plain Sight
A man of God does not always equate to a Godly man. In Sharon Moore’s novel Hidden in Plain Sight the reader is submerged into the life of two Bishops; Bishop James Collins and Bishop Quincy Stewart. Both minister to super churches in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina. They have competing congregations that appeal to similar groups but the two Bishops have drastically different goals and priorities. Both men are married and like their churches, their marriages are different and mirror their situations. Playing off well known images of the African American society Moore draws the reader into the culture surrounding the life of the people and families that make these super churches function. The novel also reminds us that just being ordained in the house of God does not remove one from all sin and does not make one perfect.
This story takes place in modern time, going back to the early 60’s when the characters meet. You learn how James Collins and Quincy Stewart meet their wives and start building up their mega church communities. The readers are also introduced to Jason White, the 29-year-old, grew up and out of the ghetto man, that has a chip on his shoulder and is out for revenge. It is discovered early in the novel that one of the Bishop’s is his father, but it isn’t said right off who. Jason’s mother, Bridgett, has recently died and his aunt tells him the truth about his family and father. This sets him off and he decides to seek out his father for revenge but he is unsure what exactly he wants. While seeking out his father he himself starts finding himself taking an interest in becoming and more Godly man. While James Collins appears the model Bishop with a happy family life, there is some underlying tension with his oldest son Lee. Quincy Stewart is quickly shown to be an abusive and manipulative man who cares only for his own needs and appearances.
The stories of the bishop’s families and Jason White all intermingle by the end of this novel. Outside influences play a large part but so do the internal struggles of each character. One disappointing point of this novel is the ending. This book is the first in a series, typically in a book series, one story line would be concluded with tie ins to the next novel, this book ends like a TV series season ending, cliffhanger with no resolution and just many questions. I found this frustrating especially given the volatile situation one character ends up in.
Moore does a good job bringing out the personalities and culture of her character’s environment. The use of traditional African American dialect is used not to be profane or show ignorance, rather it is indicative of the normal conversational language of the culture. She also does a good job showing how the mega church culture is more than just a church, it is a life style for those that their entire lives revolve around the church. Hidden in Plain Sight shows the good and the bad involved with the community and struggles and challenges it presents, especially on the families living it. Over all it is a great start to the series and I look forward to seeing how things go in the lives of all the characters.
Pages: 290 | ASIN: B01JBKHIZY
In His Way
In His Way by Rebecca Duvall is a personal journey of her life and how she came to discover God. Duvall goes through many trials in her life. Everything that life could throw, divorce, children, financial situations, and serious illnesses, she faced. It is through this intimate journey you get to know Duvall, her family, and their troubles. You see how she evolves from struggling and thinking that she can only get through this alone and control everything to her discovery of letting go and letting in God. It was not an easy journey, but it is an honest one.
I enjoyed this book and could not put it down. In His Way took me on an emotional adventure. I felt for the author and her family because of the ups and downs they face. In the beginning, she states that she was not always positive and wrote that way. The story takes you through a raw, impassioned relatable telling. No one is perfect, and this book is a reminder of that. I love how honest she is. She held nothing back. She spoke of the resentment and hatred she harbored toward her husband. These were authentic feelings and thoughts expressed. You see how she goes from wanting to control everything to becoming understanding, appreciative, and cooperative. Duvall transforms, and it was all because she learned to talk to and accept God. My favorite part about this book is that you do not have to be religious to enjoy it. It is an uplifting, encouraging, and inspirational read.
Duvall’s narrative is strong. It was refreshing to read something where a person is faithful to the events, no matter how it paints them. There were plenty of moments where I was shocked at the mean things stated, but it was relatable. When you meet challenges in life, sometimes you are not the nicest person and make the wrong decisions or say things you do not mean. She does not hold back from that. She admits to many faults, and I admire her.
My only real complaint with the book was that there were some grammar mistakes and awkward phrasing. It also got a little slow toward the end but picked back up. Overall, I genuinely love it.
I learned a lot from reading this book. I learned that we let fears get in the way of our decisions. I also learned about communication and not bottling things up. One of the major things I took away from this is that if you are dedicated, you can get through something. I also found understanding in religion and people’s relationship with God in this. I related to Duvall so much because she went from not understanding or knowing God to praying, and I have learned more about God and understanding God in this book than going to church. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has lost their faith or anyone who have lost or looking to understand faith.
Pages: 280 | ASIN: B00MO01VIE
I Was In Hell
Jesse Teller Author Interview
Chaste focuses on an evil god and his followers in a remote town that has been overcome with a sickness. Five strangers arrive and all their destinies take a turn. What was your inspiration for the setup of the story and how did that help you create the ending?
My inspiration was vague. I’d had a few negative experiences with churches in the past, when I was a religious man. I had the idea of a small town that had experienced the same thing, the perverting of God’s word, of His ideals and methods. The title of the book came with the inspiration of a town struggling to be pure, but unable to find it. A lot of my books are studies of an issue that I’m dealing with in my life. This was my attempt at making peace with God and church, along with a few other dark issues. And Chaste did give me peace. I think it worked out. This book gave me hope, and I hope when other people read it, they can find a path back to God, or at least a path back to purity.
There are plenty of characters in Chaste that I felt were intriguing and well-developed. Who was your favorite character to write for?
I would have to say Sob. I repressed a lot of the abuse and darkness from my childhood. When it started coming back to me, it was debilitating and random. It would come back in the middle of a conversation, with a trigger word I didn’t expect. An entire scene from my past would flash before my eyes. When things like that are happening in your everyday life, you feel mad, as if you’re trembling out of control. So I wrote Sob, a woman haunted by shreds of a past she doesn’t want to remember, a powerful woman, a proficient killer, unapologetic in action and methods, but fragile in mind, always a breath away from the horror of her past. Sob healed me. I will always love her for that.
I felt that Chaste delivers the drama so well that it flirts with the grimdark genre. Was it your intention to give the story such a dark tone?
Chaste was originally supposed to be a short story. I was 63 pages in, and barely scratching the surface of the story, when I realized I was writing something bigger. Chaste was an accidental novel. I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote the rough draft of this book. But I had just been through a lot of mind-numbing therapy, and most of me was a raw and open wound. I was not trying to write a dark book. It just kind of happened. When I wrote the rough draft, grimdark wasn’t an idea yet. This was 12 years ago. There was no such term as grimdark. I didn’t even know to call it dark fantasy. It was just a story I was writing. I entered Chaste broken, and when I left it, I was healed a bit. When you’re going through that kind of catharsis, there’s no internal editor. You literally can’t hold back. There were times when I would write a scene, stand up, back away from my computer, fight back a scream and weep openly. Things were being hammered out that there were no rational words for. I was walking a razor’s edge between reality and fantasy, able to speak about my past without talking about my past. Chaste is dark because when I wrote it, I was in Hell, and the character Cheryl dragged me out.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be published?
My next book is called Mestlven. It, as well, is A Tale from Perilisc. Mestlven tells the story of Sob, after she has put a face on her past, and she can go home. She has been victimized, her world shattered, and now, after Chaste, she knows it. So Sob goes back home to wreak her revenge and fight for her sanity. I went a little mad when I wrote this book. When Sob punished her abusers, she punished mine as well. So look for Mestlven. The soft release date is April 15, 2017.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
When her devout parents died, Cheryl turned her back on her god. Years of denial and self-loathing have defeated her. Her life consists of taking orders and succumbing to abuse. A group of strangers stops in Chaste for the night, but an unnamed threat is preying on the town. Tragic deaths have become more and more frequent. Cheryl wants to protect these travelers, expose the evil force, and save her fellow citizens, but she must find a way to believe in hope.
New Megiddo Rising
New Megiddo Rising is a prequel novella to The Apostates series. The prologue sets the stage in 19th-century Mexico. The Governor of Coahuila y Tejas visits a settlement headed by a polygamous preacher named Brigham Wainwright. The preacher lies to the governor, assuring him that he will contact the American government and discourage the flow of illegal white settlers to Mexican territory. He then reveals to his captain that his plan is to do exactly the opposite with the aim of overthrowing the Mexican government. The story then shifts to an undetermined time in the future, where people have neural implants and live in a dystopian America shattered by war and climate change. The main characters are: Ayane Inoguchi, who lives in a church-run orphanage; Prescott, a Prelate of the church of New Megiddo; Kate Schrubb, daughter of the President, who is next in line to inherit the office; Inquisitor Rodrigo of the Law of Virtue Enforcement (LOVE); and Evan, an “apostate” teen living in the slums of Los Angeles.
Each character has their own story to tell, but there is no overall plot tie all these stories together. Instead, the narrative follows six characters through their lives, and telling us how much they’ve changed (or not changed) by the end of their story. Each person is different, but all are controlled by the Church of New Megiddo. The church controls everything and has no regard for quality of life or personal freedom. Anyone the church doesn’t like is called an “apostate” even high-ranking individuals who become inconvenient. There’s also a drug called database that causes hallucinations and addiction.
The author does a great job of describing how absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Church of Megiddo and the Schrubb regime display every classic symptom of corrupt leadership: assassinations to remove dissent, laws that don’t apply to the elite, Orwellian doublespeak and mind control, just to name a few. It’s a setup that can only result in rebellion and civil war, and this worldbuilding is the best part of the book.
Evan is the most sympathetic character, and it’s hard not to like him. He’s young and living in the slums, but when he is rescued by a martial arts teacher, his skills ultimately get him off the street and into the ranks of the enforcers of church law.
New Megiddo Rising is a collection of origin stories of important characters in the novels, which explains why none of the stories overlap: none of the characters have met yet. This makes it a great piece of bonus material for fans of The Apostates series. Readers who are already familiar with their favorite characters can fill in the gaps in their stories with what they know from the novels. Unfortunately, despite the good world-building and setup of this evil empire, there are too many gaps in the character backstories to make it a cohesive novella for new readers.
Pages: 121 | ASIN: B015DS2FN8
Review: 50 Shades of Truth
Subtitled “a dark journey into the Light”, “50 Shades of Truth” is the story of one man’s journey through and out of the world of BDSM. Josef takes the reader through the incidents in his childhood that he feels precipitated his interest in the world of bondage and discipline and uses encounters from his 60 year journey to explain his path and the mental and emotional consequences that he is still working through.
Josef describes for the reader the life of lies and deceit that he was forced to live because of his participation in bondage. He details his encounters with transvestites, mistresses and gay men, and takes you through his thought processes during these encounters and afterward. The depth of his guilt and shame over these encounters is evident but also evident is the complete control that his urges for this type of behavior exhibited over him.
The writing in this book is top-notch. The writer’s style is clear and approachable and made the book easy to read. This book would, however, not be suitable for younger readers due to the language and the explicit descriptions of sexual scenes. Josef’s urges, as described here, feel like an addiction and as with most addictions he makes many attempts to change before finally being able to succeed with the help of a therapist. The struggle the author felt as he watched his urges destroy two marriages and several other relationships is palpable.
Josef also goes into great detail about how he views the role of the Catholic Church, where he was raised, in developing his feelings of guilt and shame about the activities which gave him such pleasure. He also goes into his views on how society’s attitudes toward sex make life more difficult for people like him. Josef points out to us the humanity of those people who are involved in the sex industry and presents them to us as people just wanting to have a life they can enjoy. Josef does not push the reader to want to participate in this world but he does push for it to be accepted by non-participants as a valid choice for an individual.
The obvious readers of this book are people who also engage in the world of bondage and enjoy reading about it. But I think this book could also be a good choice for people who would like a greater understanding of something they are not already familiar with and also for those who enjoy stories about people who struggle but find their victory in the end. Josef exposes some very ugly truths in his book and he bares his soul to his readers. I believe there are some who will take courage from this story and be able to apply that to their own lives. I tip my hat to Josef for being willing to share his story with the world and allowing his readers to make up their own minds about whether they are willing to change their viewpoints after reading it.
ASIN: B00Z7VR406
Pages: 174
LITERARY TITAN 