Carl's Doomsday Scenario

Carl's Doomsday Scenario
by Matt Dinniman
Recommended Ages: 15+

In this first sequel to Dungeon Crawler Carl, a man and his cat continue to become a galactic social media sensation as they struggle to survive a live, planetwide Dungeons & Dragons campaign with little more than their wits, Princess Donut's charisma and Carl's increasingly effective punching, kicking and stomping skills. Now they're on Level 3 (of potentially 18 – but nobody has ever gotten past Level 13). They get to choose a species and class. Donut chooses cat and former child star; Carl's choices are more surprising. I'll let you find out about his species, but I'll hint that his class involves rapidly developing bomb-making skills. By the end, you'll know why this book has the title it does. It's gonna be a big deal later on, without a doubt.

So, Level 3. It's one of the levels divisible by three, don't ya know. As such, it's an installment in a scripted fantasy known as the Overcity, which prominently features a lot of elves and skyfolk (winged creatures who lord it over everybody else). It's also a place where quests happen to you, whether you want them or not. Carl and Donut get caught up in one almost immediately – a story about a circus that became a hellscape when the Overcity fell into shadow. How they get out of that isn't what's important right now; though the outcome gives them some leverage in the entertainment universe. It's their next quest that really blows up, figuratively and literally. We're talking a Kobayashi Maru scenario for a couple of crawlers. It's almost as if the evil corporation behind the game is afraid of their success and wants to kill them off before they get too big. But a whole bunch of other crawlers get swept up in it, and before it's over, cosmic alliances may be broken, shots are fired (not only within the dungeon) and an entire civilization teeters on the brink of economic collapse. Good times.

Carl is still that "I won't let them break me" guy we all know and love – especially the foot-fetishist AI controlling the game, as evidenced by the fact that he never makes any progress toward getting shoes or pants. Donut is still the wisecracking puddy-tat who can swing in a heartbeat between cuddling and killing, purring and hissing. She also shoots rockets out of her eyes, and commands the loyalty of a rapidly growing velociraptor. Their party grows by yet another member in this book, but this gift from a fellow member of the dungeon crawl's Top 10 leaderboard could have a dagger hidden in it, if you know what I mean. It's a stage in their adventure where they gear up for levels yet to come, learn a lot and, intentionally or otherwise, make more powerful enemies than ever before. And there's still lots of levels for them to get through if they want to survive. It's nonstop scary, thrilling, laugh-out-loud fun.

It looks like there are going to be at least 10 books in this series, though only eight have been released so far. A master of LitRPG, Dinniman is also the author of such "apocalyptic fun" as Kaiju, The Grinding and Operation Bounce House.

What's in Te Laudamus?—Part 2

I resume my survey of what's in the new Protes'tant Conference hymnal at hymn 217 of 322 (mostly ignoring the numbers, however). I hoped to get through the hymn department in this go, but human frailty prevented it. Let's see if I manage it next time. I'll immediately resume using abbreviations introduced in the previous installment, so be on your toes.

Easter hymns, 216-227, are prefaced by a painting of Jesus' resurrection and another Dietrich collect.

• "Christ the Lord is risen again" is by Michael Weisse, translated by Winkworth and set to a chorale that TL identifies as CHRIST IST ERSTANDEN ("Christ is arisen"), though it borrows some characteristics from the closely related chorale that TLH identifies as CHRISTUS IST ERSTANDEN. Kind of a mash-up of the two, really, including an Alleluia refrain.
• "Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands" is Luther's Easter hymn, translation Massie, set to Luther's chorale adaptation of a plainsong titled CHRIST LAG IN TODESBANDEN. I'm going to stop mentioning the times a collect is added at the end of a hymn to fill unused page space, as after this hymn.
• "The day hath dawned" by Nikolaus Herman, translation by Russell and others (including Carver), is set to Herman's own tune, ERSCHIENEN IST in its third appearance so far in the book.
• "Awake, my heart, with gladness" by Gerhardt, translation Kelly, comes with Crüger's scrumptious tune AUF, AUF MEIN HERZ, proper to this hymn.
• "Today in triumph Christ arose" by Kaspar Stolshagen, set to its prper chorale, HEUT TRIUMPHIERET and followed by a resurrection woodcut.
• "Like the golden sun ascending" by Thomas Kingo, translated from Danish by George A.T. Rygh, is set to the rhythmic version of Johann Schop's WERDE MUNTER ("Speak, O Lord, Thy servant heareth").
• John of Damascus' "The day of resurrection," translation Neale, comes to us attached to Walter's HERZLICH TUT MICH ERFREUEN (not VERLANGEN), previously seen in the Advent section. The woodcut after it depicts Jesus in the garden admonishing Mary Magdalene, "Touch Me not."
• "Welcome, happy morning" by Fortunatus, translated by John Ellerton, is set to the chorale SEI DU MIR GEGRÜSSET, as in TLH. Some may know this hymn in an alternate translation, set to Ralph Vaughan Williams' tune SALVA FESTA DIES ("Hail thee, festival day"). Well, funny I should mention it, because ...
• "Welcome, festal morning!" is Carver's translation of the same hymn, starting with two refrains (A and B) at the bottom of the second page of "Welcome, happy morning" and continuing for another two pages with stanzas, starting with "Lo, the gracious beauty," set to the plainsong SALVA FESTA DIES. I think I have to ding TL for hiding the refrains on the previous page, out of line-of-sight from the rest of the hymn. I don't think it bodes well for its practical use as the editors intended.
• "Jesus Christ, who came to save" by Luther, translation composite, is actually a hymn I've translated myself! (Shameless self-plug) And it's set to the tune JESUS CHRISTUS, UNSER HEILAND, DER DEN TOD (not to be confused with the similarly named tune to Jan Hus' communion hymn).
• "Triumphantly, His garments gored" is by Benjamin (not Michael) Praetorius and set to the magnificent tune, O HEILAND, REISS DIE HIMMEL AUF ("O Savior, rend the heavens wide"). It features a footnote explaining the word "tows."

Ascension hymns, 228-230, begin with ...

• "Be glad, God's children round about" by Erasmus Alber, set to the author's own tune, NUN FREUT EUCH, GOTTES KINDER ALL—not to be confused with NUN FREUT EUCH (lieben Christen gmein). Only after this are the remaining hymns in the section prefaced by a color painting of Christ's ascension and another Dietrich collect.
• "We thank Thee, Jesus, dearest friend" by Selnecker, translation Loy, is set again to ERSCHIENEN IST.
• "Oh, sing with exultation" by Anders Arrebo, in Døving's translation, and set to the chorale AUS MEINES HERZENS GRUNDE ("My inmost heart now raises," etc.). An ascension woodcut follows.

Pentecost hymns, 231-235, start with ...

• "Come, Holy Spirit," a single-stanza antiphon set to the plainsong VENI SANCTE SPIRITUS, and only then comes the color painting and Dietrich collect.
• "Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord," from one medieval Latin stanza and two added by Luther, is set to its own chorale KOMM, HEILIGER GEIST, HERRE GOTT.
• "Creator Spirit, heavenly dove" is one of those odd-even stanzas celebrations, with the chorale KOMM, GOTT SCHÖPFER on the left and the plainsong VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS on the right. Text from Latin by way of Luther by way of Massie. And when the tune credit says Sarum, I believe that's professional antiquarian-speak for Salisbury, England. As in, Stonehenge. But not that old.
• "Oh, enter, Lord, Thy temple" by Gerhardt, translation Winkworth, is set to Crüger's lovely tune ZEUCH EIN, and I'm delighted to see it. It was an important enough hymn, in the era of TLH, that Jan Bender included it in a book of Hymn of the Day arrangements keyed to that book; yet it's been missing from Missouri Synod hymnals ever since. Its 13 stanzas spill across four pages, however. It does cost a bit in real estate, though TL's editors made the choice of repeating the melody on the third and fourth pages.
• "Now do we pray to God, the Holy Ghost," with an anonymous German stanza expanded into four by Luther, is set to its own chorale, NUN BITTEN WIR. Essential Lutheran Pentecost material.

Trinity hymns, 236-240, return to the pattern of starting with a color painting (an altarpiece by Dürer) and a Dietrich collect.

• "I believe in one God" is a through-composed, four-page-long plainsong setting of the Nicene Creed, harmonized by Healey Willan (more from him is to come—no surprise if you've had the pleasure of hearing Reuning play Willan's setting of the Divine Service on a Sunday morning). LW had this melody as well; my vicarage congregation may have been one of the few ever to use it in worship. I love this setting, but teaching it to a congregation is a project and a half.
• "We all believe in one true God" is Luther's paraphrase of the Nicene Creed, set to the chorale WIR GLAUBEN ALL (harmony by Praetorius—and I always mean Michael unless otherwise specified). There's another footnote about optional accidentals and a long Amen, different from the one I learned for this tune.
• "God the Father, be our Stay" is again a medieval hymn filtered through Luther, by way of Massie, and set to the chorale GOTT DER VATER, WOHN UNS BEI. I applaud TL for reverting to the three-stanza version instead of the pathetic "Triune God, oh, be our Stay" option that replaced it in LW or, perhaps worse, the confusing choice between the one- and three-stanza versions offered in LSB, which forces those of us who care to instruct the congregation to skip the apparent first stanza and sing just the italicized stanzas 1, 2 and 3. Yeesh. Thanks, TL, for walking that abomination back.
• "The mystery hidden from the mind" by Gerhardt is set to the chorale ES WOLLE GOTT ("May God bestow on us His grace"). I'm a little miffed that the book passed on the opportunity to set it to EIN NEUES LIED, as in Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (ELH); see a couple hymns ahead. The stanzas overflow onto a third page, complete with melody.
• "Isaiah, mighty Seer" is Luther's interpolation and paraphrase of the Sanctus, all in one long stanza that goes on for three pages. Again, a chore to teach to a congregation but worth it once accomplished!

Reformation hymns, 241-252, begin with a painting of Luther at the Diet of Worms divided across two pages, followed by a collect not specifically by Veit Dietrich, for once.

• "A mighty Fortress is our God," Luther's paraphrase of Psalm 46, is set to its own chorale, EIN FESTE BURG, rhythmic.
• "A new song I now fain would tell" is Luther's very first hymn, commemorating the faithfulness of the Reformation's first two martyrs, and set to Luther's own tune, EIN NEUES LIED (see? I said you'd see it in a bit). It goes on to 12 stanzas across four pages, with melody repeated on the second spread, followed by a page-and-a-half-long historical note related to the song that doesn't mention one thing I've learned about this hymn—it may be the tune that introduced the major key as we know it, turning a corner from medieval to modern music.
• "Lord, keep us steadfast" by Luther with stanzas added by Justus Jonas, translation Winkworth, is set to its proper chorale, ERHALT UNS, HERR.
• "O Lord, look down from heaven, behold" is Luther's paraphrase of Psalm 12, set to its own chorale, ACH GOTT VOM HIMMEL, a confident lamentation.
• "Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice" by Luther, translation Massie, is a confession of Law-Gospel belief, largely in quotation marks attributed to God the Father and the Son, and set to its proper chorale, Luther's own NUN FREUT EUCH.
• "If God had not been on our side," also by Luther and translated by Massie, is set to its own chorale, WÄR GOTT NICHT MIT UNS and followed by a woodcut of Luther.
• "O God, our Lord, Thy holy Word," source unknown, is translated partly by W. Gustave Polack and partly by Carver and set to its prper chorale, O HERRE GOTT. Its eight stanzas overflow (with melody) onto a third page.
• "In these our days so perilous," adapted by Luther from early-church Latin and translated by Massie, is a one-stanza prayer for peace elsewhere given as "Grant peace we pray in mercy, Lord," and set to its own chorale, VERLEIH UNS FRIEDEN.
• "Salvation unto us has come" by Paul Speratus, set to its own chorale ES IST DAS HEIL, is such a monumental hymn (weighing in at 14 stanzas) that its closing doxology is actually two stanzas long.
• "The mouth of fools doth God confess," Luther's paraphrase of Psalm 14, translation Massie, is set to its own chorale, ES SPRICHT DER UNWEISEN MUND. It's another rarity that I am overjoyed to see; in fact, I once translated it myself, unaware at the time of Massie's version.
• "Dear to me is the holy Maid" by Luther, translation Massie, is subsectioned "Church" in case you're wondering who this woman is. It's set to its own chorale, SIE IST MIR LIEB, and again, it's a bit of a rarity these days.
• "In peace and joy I now depart" is Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis, set to his own (attributed) tune MIT FRIED UND FREUD. Like pretty much this whole section, it's a worthy challenge to teach this hymn to a congregation if they're open to learning something truly beautiful.

End Times hymns, 252-264 (including the hymn just mentioned, which seems to be sectioned as both Reformation and End Times), proceeds with a color painting by Rubens of the baby Jesus' presentation to Simeon, and of course a Dietrich collect.

• "A pilgrim and a stranger" by Gerhardt is set to Crüger's beautiful tune WIE SOLL ICH DICH EMPFANGEN ("O Lord, how shall I meet Thee"), which has sadly been pushed out of its proper place by that old workhorse, VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN. Gerhardt's 14 stanzas, with repeated melody, spread across four pages.
• "Be glad, my heart, and fear no more" by Gerhardt, translation Kelly, is set to the chorale ES IST GEWISSLICH ("The day is surely drawing near").
• "Farewell I gladly bid thee" by Valentin Herberger, translation Winkworth, is the tune from which VALET WILL ICH takes its name, and of course is set to it.
• "I walk in danger all the way" by Hans Adolph Brorson is set to the warm, tender tune DIE LIEBEN SONNE, as in TLH, LW, ELH and several other hymnals.
• "In the midst of earthly life" is Luther's araphrase of a medieval Latin antiphon with additional stanzas of his own, set to his own choralification of the original plainsong, MITTEN WIR IM LEBEN SIND.
• "Lord Jesus Christ, my Life, my Light" by Martin Behm, translation Winkworth, goes with O JESU CHRISTE, WAHRES LICHT.
• "Lord Jesus Christ, true Man and God" by Paul Eber, translation Winkworth, goes with HERR JESU CHRIST, WAHR MENSCH UND GOTT. Gorgeous!
• "Lord, Thee I love with all my heart" by Martin Schalling, translation winkworth, is set to its own chorale, HERZLICH LIEB. I can't think of this hymn without remembering a party (at Reuning's house, wouldn't you know) where I sat down to play it at the piano and soon had a roomful of pastors and seminarians gathered around, singing it throatily and with deep emotion—a memory that will move me as long as I live.
• "The day is surely drawing near" by Bartholomäus Ringwaldt, is set to its own chorale, ES IST GEWISSLICH.
• Subsectioned as Missions, "Thou, who didst bring the Gospel" by Albert Knap is set to the rousing tune IST GOTT FÜR MICH ("If God Himself be for me").
• "Wake, awake, for night is flying," the King of Chorales, is by Nicolai, translation Winkworth, and set to Nicolai's own chorale, WACHET AUF—musically quoted in Handel's famous Hallelujah chorus.
• "Day of wrath, O day of morning," attributed to Thomas de Celano and part of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, is a long sequence hymn whose 19 stanzas fill most of three pages, set to four harmonic settings by Reuning and followed by Luther's explanation of the Seventh Petition ("But deliver us from evil").

Faith-Life hymns, 265-294, include such subtopics as God's Word (265-267), ministry (268), baptism (269), communion (270-272), repentance/absolution (273), catechism (10 Commandments and Lord's Prayer, 274-276; Creed, 237; baptism, 184; communion, 207; confession, 190), the Christian home (277-278), Psalm paraphrases (279-280, with others scattered throughout the book listed by Psalm in the TOC), endurance/hope/trust (281-290), restoration/saints (291-293) and call to service (294). The prefatory painting shows Luther playing his lute and singing with his family, followed by another Dietrich collect.

• "Thy strong Word" by Martin Franzmann is set to Thomas Williams' EBENEZER.
• "You spoke Your Word of truth" by Franzmann goes with Gibbons' SONG 24, followed by a woodcut showing Christ sitting in judgment.
• "Thy Word has been our daily bread" by Franzman is set to Richard Farrant's tune FARRANT (cf. TLH's setting of "Lord, lead the way the Savior went").
• "Preach you the Word" by Franzmann continues the hit parade, set to O HEILAND, REISS DIE HIMMEL AUF.
• "Ye baptized people, one and all" by Gerhardt, with multiple translators including Jon Vieker and Carver, is set to ES IST DAS HEIL.
• "Lord Jesus Christ, in hidden ways" by Franzmann is set to Daniel Read's tune WINDHAM ("We sing the praise of Him who died" in LBW, LW and LSB, etc.)
• "O kingly Love, that faithfully" by Franzmann is a long-stanzaed hymn (three pages, just to get through it once; and there are four stanzas!) set to Richard Hillert's, I'm sorry, unsingable tune KINGLY LOVE. Not for nothing did I sweat out an alternate tune of my own. But did anyone ask me? No. (Sniff.)
• "Lord, we will remember Thee" by Franzmann is set to J. Rudolph Ahle's LIEBSTER JESU.
• "Let not such a thought e'er pain thee" by Gerhardt, translation Kelly, is set to Crüger's ZION KLAGT ("Zion mourns in fear and anguish"), with brackets assisting with the rhythmic groupings across 12 stanzas and three pages.
• "Wilt thou, O man, live happily" is Luther's other hymn paraphrase of the 10 commandments, set to its own chorale, MENSCH, WILLST DU LEBEN SELIGLICH.
• When I say other, it's in distinction from "That man a godly life might live" (both translated by Massie), the longer but better known of the two hymns, set to the tune now known as IN GOTTES NAMEN FAHREN WIR.
• "Our Father, Thou in heaven above" is Luther's paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, translation Winkworth, set to its own chorale, VATER UNSER, also attributed to Luther.
• "Happy the man who feareth God" is Luther's paraphrase of Psalm 128, translation Massie, set to WO GOTT ZUM HAUS ("?O blest the house, whate'er befall").
• "Our Lord has laid His benison" by Franzmann is set to Samuel Howard's ISLEWORTH ("O God of mercy, God of might," etc.) and includes a footnote explaining the word "benison."
• "Blessed is the man that never" is Gerhardt's paraphrase of Psalm 1, translation Døving, set to WERDE MUNTER (rhythmic).
• "The Lord who rules creation" by Gerhardt, translation Kelly, is a Psalm 23 paraphrase set to the chorale NUN LASST UNS GEHN, of which I have nothing intelligent to say. Its 12 stanzas overflow onto a second page, including melody.
• "Commit whatever grieves thee" by Gerhardt is set to HERZLICH ... VERLANGEN.
• "If God Himself be for me," Gerhardt by way of Massie with an assist from Kelly, is set to its own tune, IST GOTT FÜR MICH, and most uncharacteristically, stanzas 10-15 flow onto a third page without melody.
• "Weary of all trumpeting" by Franzmann is set to Hugo Distler's tune DISTLER, which sounds made for the purpose. A striking, modern tune, rather unusual for this book.
• "If thou but suffer God to guide thee" by Georg Neumark, translation Winkworth, is set to Neumark's own tune WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT.
• "What is the world to me" by Georg Michael Pfefferkorn, translation Crull, set to Ahasuerus Fritsch's (isn't that a great name?) tune WAS FRAG ICH NACH DER WELT.
• "From God shall naught divide me" by Ludwig Helmbold, translation Winkworth, goes with the chorale VON GOTT WILL ICH NICHT LASSEN, here arranged by Distler.
• "What God ordains is always good" by Samuel Rodigast goes with Severus Gastorius' (not Snape) tune WAS GOTT TUT.
• "In God, my faithful God", translated by Winkworth, goes with the chorale AUF MEINEN LIEBEN GOTT and is another one of my favoritest hymns ever. A woodcut follows it, depicting Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac.
• "Why should cross and trial grive me" by Gerhardt, translation Kelly, is a precious hymn, all the more lovely for J. Georg Ebeling's tune, WARUM SOLLT ICH MICH. It's followed by another footnote defining the word "cavil" and a woodcut showing the suffering of Job.
• "What they would gain men hope to win" is actually by a living writer, Robert Christman, and is set to the Christoph Demantius tune ACH LIEBEN CHRISTEN, SEID GETROST. A Dürer woodcut of Christ before Caiaphas follows it.
• "In Thee, O Lord, I've put my trust" by Adam Reusner, translation Winkworth, is set to its own chorale, IN DICH HAB ICH GEHOFFET, with a second strain of melody squeezed onto the second page for stanzas 6-7.
• "O God, O Lord of heaven and earth" by Franzmann is set to Jan Bender's WITTENBERG NEW, a modern hymn-tune that I've taught to a church choir but that I still like to call the hardest good hymn in the hymnal (starting with LW and continuing with LSB).
• "Rise again, ye lion-hearted" is co-translated by Franzmann and Carver and set to Bernhard Klein's LÖWEN, LASST EUCH WIEDER FINDEN. A footnote acknowledges one word altered from Franzmann's original text.
• "O Thou, who on the accursed ground" by Franzmann is set to Melchior Vulpius' tune HINUNTER IST DER SONNEN SCHEIN ("The sun is set, its light is gone"), a challenging but thrilling little tune.

And there I leave you for today, with the Praise and Thanksgiving, Morning and Evening hymns still to come.

What's in Te Laudamus?—Part 1

Yesterday my two copies of Te Laudamus arrived. It's the new hymnal of the small, conservative Lutheran entity known as the Protes'tant Conference, with stress on the second syllable (I'm serious; and they actually spell it with that apostrophe). I think the Protes'tant Conference is an off-shoot of the Wisconsin Ev. Lutheran Synod. It's based in Valders, Wisconsin. Here's its Wikipedia page if you want to know more. The web address, both as listed in the book and linked to the wiki, currently leads to a "page not found" message. For what it's worth. The book is beautifully made, with a Latin title meaning "We praise Thee" referencing the ancient creedal hymn Te Deum laudamus, embossed in gold between the wings of the Cherubim on a cloth-bound hardback in a vibrant shade of red. And its contributors include a bunch of people I more or less know and deeply respect, including Rev. Dr. Daniel Reuning (whom I had as a seminary prof), Rev. Michael Frese (who was a fellow student of mine at the same sem), Matthew Carver (a collaborator on other hymn-related projects), Rev. Jesse Krusemark, Rev. Dr. Michael Albrecht and others. Congratulations and kudos to them for launching such a fine book. You can buy it here, if you're interested.

Following some prefaces, including a dedicatory poem by Martin Luther translated by Robin Leaver, and a lovely color illustration of a stained glass window depicting King David, the book proceeds directly to the Psalter with all 150 Psalms pointed for singing to the nine Gregorian tones. There's a whole page of instructions that I think will be important to read and discuss in preparation for using these tones. I'm already impressed with the eds.' commitment, measured in sheer real estate, to making the church's foundational hymn-book fully available for use in public worship and private devotions, with stress on its intended purpose—to be sung.

The pages of the Psalter aren't numbered. Then another illustration depicting Luther's seal and the initials VDMA (Verbum Domini manet in aeternum, "The Word of the Lord endures forever"), with a brief explanation beneath it, introduces the next major division of the book: hymns. This kicks off with a table of contents to aid users in locating hymns by season of the church year or topic. They're numbered from 151 (i.e., continuing from the numbering of the Psalter) through 322. So, it's not a huge collection of hymns. What you will notice, and I think closer attention to those prefaces will support this, is an apparently deliberate decision by the editors to restrict their selection almost entirely to hymns from either pre-Reformation or specifically Lutheran hymn writers, with a lot of space devoted to Luther himself, Paul Gerhardt and (in later sections) Martin Franzmann.

The Advent section, 151-158, opens with a picture by Giotto of Christ's entry into Jerusalem and a prayer by Veit Dietrich, a protégé of Luther. The hymns (and, pardon me, I'm going to list all of them) are:

• "Savior of the Nations, come" by Ambrose, by way of Luther's German, mostly translated by Richard Massie and set to the 16th century German chorale customarily paired with it, NUN KOMM DER HEIDEN HEILAND.
• Come, Thou Redeemer of the Earth," which seems to be John Mason Neale's translation of the same hymn directly from Ambrose's Latin, set to the related plainsong VENI REDEMPTOR GENTIUM.
• "The new church year again is come" by J.G. Olearius, set to Nikolaus Herman's tune ERSCHIENEN IST ("We sing, Immanuel, Thy praise", etc.)
• "Jesus, Thy Church with longing eyes" by William H. Bathurst—a 19th-century Anglican minister, and so already an exception to the rule of appropriating hymns strictly from the Lutheran tradition—set to the chorale O JESU CHRISTE, WAHRES LICHT ("O Christ, our true and only Light").
• "O Lord, how shall I meet Thee" by Gerhardt, set to Melchior Teschner's tune VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN ("All glory, laud and honor"). An end-note explains that the tune was chosen to coincide with "All glory, laud" because of the link between the Advent I gospel reading and Palm Sunday, when the latter hymn is sung. The page ends with a collect for pardon. (A collect is a formally written prayer, if you don't know.)
• "The Bridegroom soon will call us" by Johann Walter, translated by Matthias Loy, and set to the chorale HERZLICH TUT MICH ERFREUEN – with Reuning's setting exhibiting the use of square brackets to draw singers' attention to rhythmic groupings in this somewhat tricky tune. The page ends with a collect for grace to use our gifts.
• "O come, O come, Emmanuel," in Neale's translation from the Latin, numbered as "157a" and set to the French chant tune VENI EMMANUEL. 157b is the Great "O" Antiphons of the Advent season, pointed for chanting to one of the Gregorian tones, with a collect for an answer to prayer at the end.
• "Hark, a thrilling voice is sounding," in Edward Caswall's translation from Latin, set to FREUEN WIR UNS ALL IN EIN which Lutheran Worship and Lutheran Book of Worship also paired with this hymn. The section ends with an Albrecht Dürer woodcut of the annunciation (i.e. the angel telling the Virgin Mary that she's going to give birth to our Savior).

Christmas hymns, 159-180, break down further between the birth of Jesus (159-171), Holy Innocents (172-174), the Circumcision and Name of Jesus (175-177), and the New Year (178-180). The section begins with another color painting, showing Jesus' nativity, plus another collect by Veit Dietrich. The hymns are:

• "From heaven high I come to earth" by Luther, one of my very favorite hymns, with the music repeated on both sides of a two-page spread (albeit in two different arrangements) and performance directions designating stanzas 1-5 for "angel," 6-14 for children and 15 (which, strangely, is at the bottom of the first page) for "all."
• "Come, your hearts and voices raising" by Gerhardt, set to its proper tune, QUEM PASTORES.
• "To shepherds as they watched by night" by Luther, in Massie's translation, set to the chorale ICH KOMM AUS FREMDEN LANDEN HER (so also in the Ev. Lutheran Hymnary).
• "Behold! behold! what wonder's here!" by Gerhardt, in John Kelly's translation, set to Orlando Gibbons' tune SONG 34 ("Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go," etc.) A woodcut of the naming of John fills up the surplus space at the end of the second page.
• "In Bethlehem God's Son is born," from Latin, set to Michael Praetorius' tune PUER NOBIS ("On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry"), which really should be tune to "To shepherds as they watched" while Praetorius' own tune, PUER NATUS IN BETHLEHEM, is identified with this hymn. Well, you can't nail them all.
• "O Jesus Christ, all praise to Thee" by Luther, set to Praetorius' tune GELOBET SEIST DU.
• "We Christians may rejoice today" by Caspar Füger, set to the chorale WIR CHRISTENLEUT, with those assisting brackets to point up the rhythmic groupings. A woodcut of Mary's visitation to Elizabeth fills the bottom of the second page.
• "Of the Father's love begotten," translated from Prudentius, set to the plainsong DIVINUM MYSTERIUM. A collect for grace to love and serve God fills up the bottom of the second page.
• "We sing, Immanuel, Thy praise" by Gerhardt, with (as mentioned) ERSCHIENEN IST. There's a woodcut of the birth of Jesus at the end.
• "O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is" by Gerhardt, set to Johann Crüger's achingly lovely tune O JESU CHRIST, DEIN KRIPPLEIN whose replacement by a freshly composed tune in Lutheran Service Book (LSB) has annoyed me for, lo, 20 years now. A woodcut at the end depicts the presentation of Jesus and purification of Mary.
• "Now praise we Christ, the Holy One" by Luther, divided into an "a" and a "b" on facing pages with stanzas 1-2, 4-5 and 7-8 on the left, set to the chorale CHRISTUM WIR SOLLEN LOBEN SCHON, and stanzas 3 and 6 at the right set to the closely related plainsong A SOLIS ORTUS CARDINE. An endnote suggests either dividing the hymn between the two settings in alternation between congregation, choir, cantor or children or having the congregation sing it to the chorale throughout. I'm going to spare myself a lot of tedious repetition by just calling this a "celebration," to borrow terminology from Lutheran Worship.
• "O Christ, the Father's only Son," translated from Latin by Neale. The music is another celebration, with odd-numbered stanzas set to PUER NOBIS on the left, "a" side of the spread and even-numbered ones to the plainsong CHRISTE REDEMPTOR OMNIUM on the right, "b" side.
• "On this day earth shall ring," in Jane Joseph's translation from Latin, set to its proper tune, PERSONET HODIE in one of Reuning's many settings in the book. It's much easier to play than the Gustav Holst setting I've previously encountered. A helpful footnote even explains the refrain, which remains in its original Latin.
• Following a painting of the massacre of Innocents and a historic collect, the Holy Innocents section starts with "This little babe so few days old" by Robert Southwell, an English Jesuit priest(!), set to Melchior Vulpius' tune DAS NEUGEBORNE KINDELEIN which some know as the tune to "Victim Divine, thy grace we claim" or maybe "Jesus, Thy boundless love to me." I think the tune suits this hymn to the ground. Perhaops you've heard this text set for boys' choir and harp in Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, a spectacular piece.
• "O hail this brightest day of days," from an anonymous German author in 1524 Wittenberg, with Praetorius' setting of the chorale DER TAG DER IST SO FREUDENREICH, suggesting this is an alternative translation of the hymn I know as "Now hail the day so rich in cheer."
• "Sweet flowerets of the martyr band" by Prudentius, set to Daniel Vetter's tune DAS WALT GOTT VATER, also paired with it in The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) and Lutheran Worship (LW).
• The Circumcision and Name of Jesus section begins with another color painting and a collect by Veit Dietrich. "O Jesus, for whose truth" is an 11-stanza hymn by Johann Heermann, in Carver's translation set to the chorale O GOTT, DU FROMMER GOTT (Meiningen) and followed by a collect for unwavering faith.
• "Why should they such torment give thee" by Gerhardt, translated by Kelly, is set to the rhythmic version of the Geneva tune FREU DICH SEHR ("Comfort, comfort ye my people"), with more of those helpful rhythmic brackets.
• "O blessed day when first was poured" is by Sebastien Besnault, a Cluniac monk (so, another exception to the rule posited above), translated by John Chandler and set to John B. Dykes' tune ST. CROSS ("'Twas on that dark, that doleful night," etc.).
• The New Year section begins, all unheralded, with "The new-born child this early morn" by Cyriakus Schneegass, translated by Emanuel Cronenwett and set to DAS NEUGEBORNE KINDELEIN.
• "Now let us come before Him" by Gerhardt, with stanzas translated by Carver supplementing Kelly's translation, set to Crüger's NUN LASST UNS GOTT, one of his less inspired tunes in my opinion, albeit quite rhythmic. The page at the bottom of the 14-stanza hymn ends with a collect for an answer to prayer.
• "The old year now hath passed away" by Johann Steuerlein is translated by Catherine Winkworth (not her first appearance in this book, though I forgot to mention her) and set to its own tune, Vulpius' DAS ALTE JAHR VERGANGEN IST.

Epiphany hymns, 181-189, are introduced by another color painting and a Dietrich collect.

• "How lovely shines the morning star," the Queen of Chorales, is by Philipp Nicolai, includng the tune WIE SCHÖN LEUCHTET.
• "The star proclaims the Kinig is here" by Sedulius, in Neale's translation, is set to its own plainsong tune, HOSTIS HERODES IMPIE. This would have to be introduced with care to get a congregation of average singing ability over the hump of, well, singing plainsong. There's enough space at the end of the hymn for two additional collects.
• "Why, Herod, unrelenting foe" by Luther, by way of Massie, is a paraphrase of Sedulius' hymn, here set to a chorale identified as VOM HIMMEL KAM DER ENGEL SCHAR, which strikes me as essentially the same tune as CHRISTUM WIR SOLLEN LOBEN SCHON.
• A woodcut introduces the Baptism of Christ section, along with an excerpt from Luther's Small Catechism. "To Jordan came our Lord, the Christ" by Luther, in Massie's translation, is set to its own chorale, CHRIST, UNSER HERR, with an explanatory note regarding an F-sharp in parentheses that can be sung as a natural if that's what you're used to.
• "O Jesus, King of Glory" by Martin Behm, translated by Winkworth, is set to VALET WILL ICH and followed by two more collects.
• "The will of God is always best," also followed by a collect, is by Albrecht von Preussen (elsewhere credited as von Brandenburg) and set to its own tune, WAS MEIN GOTT WILL by Claudin de Sermisy.
• "Seek where ye may to find a way" by Georg Weissel is set to the more rhythmically interesting of two versions of Johann Stobäus' tune SUCH, WER DA WILL that I know of. It's also followed by a space-filling collect.
• "Lord Christ, the Sole-Begotten" by Elizabeth Cruciger, in Carver's translation, is a hymn I know as "The only Son from heaven." It's set to its proper tune, the chorale HERR CHRIST, DER EINIG GOTTS SOHN, and followed by two collects.
• "May God bestow on us His grace" is Luther's missions hymn and paraphrase of Psalm 67, translated by Massie and set to its own chorale, ES WOLLE GOTT. The Epiphany section ends with an illustration representing the six chief parts of Luther's Small Catechism.

Lent hymns, 190-215, include Ash Wednesday (190-191), Christian warfare (192-193), confession/repentance (194-201), and Passiontide, further subdivided into Judica (Lent V) passion harmony paraphrases (202-203), Holy Week: Palmarum (Lent VI) (204), Maundy Thursday/communion (205-208), Good Friday (209-213), and Holy Saturday (214-215). The section starts with a color painting of the return of the prodigal son and another Dietrich collect.

• "From depths of woe I cry to Thee" is Luther's penitential paraphrase of Psalm 130, translated by Winkworth and set to Luther's own tune, AUS TIEFER NOT, with the famous interval of a descending fifth tone-painting the word "depths" and making alternate translations, such as "Out of the depths," offensively stupid. It is also followed by a space-filling collect.
• "By Adam's fall is all forlorn" by Lazarus Spengler is set to the Reformation-era chorale DURCH ADAMS FALL. Its nine stanzas sprawl onto a third page, with the melody repeated to spare users the inconvenience of having to flip back and forth to recall how it goes.
• The transition from Ash Wednesday to Christian warfare is marked by a woodcut of Adam and Eve and another excerpt from the catechism, Luther's explanation of the sixth petition, "Lead us not into temptation." "O Lord, our Father, shall we be confounded" by Heermann opens the section, in Winkworth's translation and set to the striking Rouen tune ISTE CONFESSOR (not to be confused with the Angers tune by the same name). Again, two collects follow.
• "Lord of our life and God of our salvation," another one of my most favoritest hymns, is by Matthäus Apelles von Löwenstern and is here set to the same tune as in TLH. What I particularly like about its appearance here is that unlike LSB, TL leaves all five stanzas intact and doesn't cut the heart out of the last two stanzas to cram them into one; which wasn't a space consideration at all, to judge by LSB's page layout. Just a bad decision, rectified here. Also, two more collects fill space at the end.
• "In Thee alone, O Christ, my Lord" by Konrad Hubert, his best-known work, with stanzas translated by Arthur Tozer Russell (whom I've also neglected to mention previously) and Winkworth. The tune is its own chorale, ALLEIN ZU DIR.
• "Lord, hear the voice of my complaint" by Paul Speratus, translated by Winkworth, is a very significant hymn in historic Lutheranism that has been left out of my synod's hymnals time after time, along with its beautiful chorale, ICH RUF ZU DIR.
• "Alas, my God! My sins are great" by Martin Rutilius, translation Winkworth, is set to its own chorale, ACH GOTT UND HERR.
• "Lord Jesus, we give thanks to Thee" by Christoph Fischer, a.k.a. Vischer, translated by August Crull, is set to Nikolaus Herman's impressive tune WIR DANKEN DIR.
• "How can I seek, O highest Light" by Gerhardt, translation Carver, is a new one to me. It's paired with the chorale KOMMT HER ZU MIR ("O little flock, fear not the foe"). A bonus collect follows.
• "When o'er my sins I sorrow" by Justus Gesenius, translation (mostly) Winkworth, is set to the chorale WENN MEINE SÜND by Praetorius. Luther's prayer before receiving the Sacrament fills the bottom of the second page, while the last four stanzas overflow onto a third page with the tune only and, of course, rhythmic-grouping brackets. A helpful footnote explains the word "guerdon."
• Hymn 200 is "Turn, Lord, Thine anger," translated from Latin by Carl Døving and set to a Crüger tune here called HERR, DEINEN ZORN, which I know as LOBET DEN HERREN, ALLE, about which see here.
• "O faithful God, thanks be to Thee" is by Nikolaus Selnecker, one of the formularies of Concord, and is set to Louis Bourgeois' tune WENN WIR IN HÖCHSTEN NÖTEN ("When in the hour of utmost need," etc.).
• Passiontide begins with a woodcut of the crucifixion and another Dietrich collect, then "O mortal, mourn thy grievous sin" by Sebald Heyden, translation Carver, which I have heretofore known as "O sinner, come thy sin to mourn," another historically important Lutheran hymn that never makes it into Missouri Synod hymnals. It's set to a Praetorius arrangement of its own tune by Matthias Greitter called O MENSCH, BEWEIN, though this book puts that title second after ES SIND DOCH SELIG ALLE, DIE. Its six long stanzas sprawl onto four pages, three stanzas to each two-page spread. But this is only a cento (abridged version) of the full, 23-stanza metrical harmony of the Passions which starts over in the next hymn and continues (divided into parts) for eight more pages, set to a J.S. Bach arrangement of the tune.
• "The royal banners forward go" by Fortunatus, translation Neale, is a two-page celebration with Johannes Eccard's tune HERR JESU CHRIST, WAHR MENSCH UND GOTT on the left and the plainsong VEXILLA REGIS on the right. You know what I mean, right?
• "Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior," Jan Hus' Maundy Thursday/communion hymn by way of Luther and Massie, gets a two-chorale celebration as in LW, with both melodies titled JESUS CHRISTUS, UNSER HEILAND – the Wittenberg one on the left, the Erfurt one on the right. I've missed this celebration since LSB plumped for the Wittenberg tune, full stop.
• "Soul, adorn thyself with gladness" by Johann Franck, translation Winkworth, is set to its own chorale, Crüger's SCHMÜCKE DICH.
• "O Lord, we praise Thee" is Luther's communion hymn, or rather stanzas 2-3 are his, added onto an existing one-stanza hymn and set to its own chorale, GOTT SEI GELOBET. A footnote explains the option of singing either "Kyrie eleison" or "O Lord have mercy." Another prayer by Luther for before receiving the Sacrament follows.
• "Lord Jesus, my heart's Pleasure" by Gerhardt, translation Carver, is set to the long chorale NUN LOB, MEIN SEEL, causing stanzas 5-8 to spill onto a third page (unusually, without melody). Luther's prayer after receiving the sacrament follows, and another like it decorates the next page under a woodcut of the Last Supper.
• Good Friday hymns begin with "O sacred Head, now wounded" by Bernard of Clairvaux, by way of Gerhardt, set to Hans Leo Hassler's tune HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN (not to be confused with ditto-ditto-ditto ERFREUEN, above).
• "Upon the cross extended" is a huge hymn by Gerhardt, 16 stanzas translated by Kelly and set to Heinrich Friese's tune O WELT, SIEH HIER, proper to this hymn.
• "Our blessed Savior seven times spoke" by Johannes Böschenstain, translated by Frances Cox, is set to its own chorale, DA JESUS AN DES KREUZES, which TL helpfully repeats (melody only) on the second side of the two-page spread.
• "Faithful cross above all other," the explanation on the page goes, is the refrain (set to chant notation) to the Good Friday Reproaches and may be sung with the next hymn.
• "Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle" by Fortunatus, translation Neale, is a four-page celebration whose 10 stanzas may be sung to either or both of Carl Schalk's tune FORTUNATUS NEW or the Latin plainsong PANGE LINGUA.
• Holy Saturday arrives unannounced with "So rest, my Rest" by Salomo Franck, translation Massie, set to the chorale O TRAURIGKEIT ("O darkest woe").
• "Lord Jesus, who, our souls to save" by Georg Werner, translation Winkworth, is set to the chorale ERHALT UNS, HERR ("Lord, keep us steadfast").
• "The Lamb's high banquest we await," translated from Latin by Neale, is set to the "Agincourt Hymn" DEO GRACIAS ("O wondrous type"), sectioned "Easter Eve." As in, Easter vigil.

Time does not permit me to continue this exhaustive survey today, so we'll resume with the Easter hymns and all that follows in Part 2. But in case you feel unsatisfied without any critique or judgment about this book so far, let me drop a hint. When I announced on Facebook that I'd received this book, a friend (who also got their copy yesterday) asked, "Any suggestions for using it?" And my smart-aleck answer was: "Plant a whole new congregation around it. If you can find people who value, or at least are willing to put up with, actual Lutheran hymnody and worship practices."

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Dungeon Crawler Carl
by Matt Dinniman
Recommended Ages: 15+

Crap. Now I have to read this whole series.

I'm late to the game, but I've been aware of it happening on the periphery of whatever dull business I've been focused on since 2020. But I finally got this book before my recent vacation and read it during the scattered moments I could steal from driving, first from north-central Minnesota to south-central Missouri and back, then to the Twin Cities and the greater Great Falls, Montana area and back. And, you know, spending time with friends and family, visiting three state capitols, playing the organ at my former home church's 75th anniversary service, etc. It wasn't much time, to tell the truth. I might not have even started reading it, despite packing it in my luggage, were it not for a silly incident in which the bedframe in my Missouri guest room collapsed under me and I was too agitated afterward to go back to sleep. After that, the book filled the time available for reading about perfectly, and I left it behind in Montana for my dad to read after me. I think he'll like it. I sure did.

To pick up what this book is throwing down, you need to be at least a little aware of fantasy role-play games and first-person shooter video games. Now suppose when They Land, the aliens instantly flatten every manmade structure, killing most of the human race, then invite the survivors to "volunteer" for a reality-TV rpg/fps where they have to survive multiple levels of a worldwide dungeon, fighting monsters, collecting loot and experience points, and either dying in a way that amuses the trillions of viewers across the galaxy or surviving long enough to make it into deeper and more dangerous levels. If they survive all 18 levels, they'll win a prize worth, like, the planet. But don't get your hopes up; nobody has ever made it past, say, the 13th level.

Our hero is a Coast Guard veteran named Carl who has just broken up, by phone, with his cheating girlfriend Bea and is thinking about suing for custody of her precious show cat, Princess Donut, even if it means selling all his earthly possessions to do so. He won't have to worry about any of that for long, however. In the middle of a freezing Seattle night, he follows Donut outside when she uncharacteristically escapes from their apartment, just before WHAM!—their building, and everything else in sight, is flattened to the ground. Wearing only boxers, a leather jacket and Bea's crocs (which soon fall off), he has no choice but to enter the tantalizing warmth of the dungeon. Soon Carl and Donut are a dungeon crawling party – and she turns out to have more intelligence, strength and charisma points than he does. Together they face menacing creatures, fight boss battles, survive killer humans and begin learning the secrets to survival in a game that is at least partly about cultivating an enthusiastic social media audience.

This installment takes the pair through the first three levels of the world dungeon, and they (and we) learn a lot. They make some horrific enemies. They also form some touching friendships. They experience heartbreaking tragedy. And of course their adventure is an all-but-continuous flow of rockin' action and wise-cracking attitude. My favorite bit is the hilarious, foot-fetishist fancy the game's AI takes toward Carl, leaving him little presents with power-up "buffs" to encourage him to remain barefoot. Another favorite is when Carl and Donut get partly tricked, partly dragooned into going on an abusive panel show and Carl decides to piss the host off for all he's worth. The book also comes with a companion short story, which also seems to be the first in an ongoing series, tracking the fate of a clan of goblins Carl and Donut hoodwink along the way.

It's part dystopian commentary on what social media is doing to society, part "You're not going to break me" manifesto against the inner demons and societal madness that many of us felt surrounded by during the COVID-19 pandemic (and, significantly, this book debuted in 2020). You know, that "you don't really know what's going on, and you don't dare say what you do know because there are powers that can and will silence you" stuff that we're still feeling the effects of. It's frequently hilarious, often disturbing, totally thrilling and chilling, with some lovable characters and some creeps you'll dread meeting again. And meet them, no doubt, you will.

Matt Dinniman is the author of the litrpg duology Dominion of Blades and The Hobgoblin Riot, the "Shivered Sky" trilogy of Every Grain of Sand, In the City of Demons and The Great Devouring Darkness, and the currently eight-book "Dungeon Crawler Carl" series starting with this book. Other titles in the series are Carl's Doomsday Scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook, The Gate of the Feral Gods, The Butcher's Masquerade, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride, This Inevitable Ruin and A Parade of Horribles.

Mistletoe in Texas

Mistletoe in Texas
by Kari Lynn Dell
Recommended Ages: 15+

I picked up this unusually thick romance novel a while ago, for what reason I can't recall now. Maybe it was the fact, which I picked up somewhere, that the author was a genuine athletic trainer like the book's lead female character, and that she was just as genuinely involved in the rodeo scene amidst which the novel is set. Or maybe it's because she was from Montana, where my parents recently moved and where I have yet to visit. It appealed to me for some reason, so I picked it up and, in fits and starts over a couple of months, I actually read it. And despite the fact that it totally demands an Adult Content Advisory, I'm not mad at it or anything. My attention has just been scattered and I'm not blaming the book for that.

In the book, Hank and Grace grew up together in a small town in the Texas panhandle. She was his best friend whose brains helped him make it through school. He was a handsome jock, an up and coming rodeo bullfighter, and her hopeless crush ... until he rebounded into her arms after another girl broke his heart. She had just found out she was pregnant with his baby and was about to tell him the news when she caught him on a really bad day, and he embarrassed her in public with a romantic brush-off that left her devastated. But he went on to have his own rodeo-career-ending psychiatric meltdown, and disappeared from the neighborhood for a while. Grace kept her pregnancy quiet (particularly from her strictly religious family), gave the baby up for adoption and came back to Texas to work as a high school athletic trainer and moonlight as a team roper with the same rodeo family that had given Hank his first step. And now Hank has returned after a period of healing in Montana, with his sights set on rebuilding the bridges he burned with family, community and especially Grace.

Which is all prologue to a story about a guy who hurt a girl in the deepest possible way proving to her that he has really loved her all along and is worthy of being loved back. Meanwhile he also picks up the pieces of his broken relationship with his father while also repairing the run-down ranch and dreaming of a fresh start in a business they both love – one focusing not on cows but on horses. There's a lot of drama about reconciliation and self-therapy and, of course, a steamy romance. Its horsey, rodeo bits have a great authenticity to them, if I'm any judge (but I've only covered a few rodeos as a local newspaper reporter). It's not badly written. Overall, I'd say it's OK. My only quibble would be, as I said, that it's longer than you'd expect of a Harlequin-type romance and you can, I've found, spend months reading it without ever getting that "I just can't put it down" feeling.

Kari Lynn Dell died in 2020. She was the author of six "Texas Rodeo" novels, of which this seems to be the fifth; the first was Reckless in Texas, and the sixth was Relentless in Texas. She also wrote Last Chance Rodeo, a.k.a. The Long Ride Home, which was apparently supposed to be part of the "Blackfeet Nation" series but ended up being the only installment. Given her deft delivery of convincing rodeo details, her early death is a loss that I feel.

The Faraway Inn

The Faraway Inn
by Sarah Beth Durst
Recommended Ages: 14+

Calisa needs to get away from New York for the summer after her junior year in high school. She just caught her boyfriend cheating on her, and lying to her, and she needs time away from anything that reminds her of him. Nursing her heartbreak, she travels to her great aunt's bed and breakfast in the Vermont woods, only to be told she can't stay. Auntie Zee, whom she hasn't seen since she was a little girl, is pretty brusque about it. And the place looks like it's about to fall down.

Fighting back against being sent straight home, Calisa makes herself useful. She cooks. She cleans. She helps the groundskeeper's son, an unnervingly cute boy named Jack, about whom the least thought the better because a rebound relationship totally isn't what she needs right now. And little by little, the place starts looking better, and the handful of eccentric guests seem a bit happier, and Auntie Zee says less and less about sending Calisa back home. And also, Calisa starts noticing weird things going on around the place. Weird things like, maybe, magic. Magic like, maybe, doorways doing double duty – closets one day, portals to another dimension the next. By the time she cottons to the lizard who imprints on her actually being a dragon, and the front hallway having both a magic mirror and a magic teapot in it, and the guests including a dryad, a wizard and a sea witch, Calisa is perilously close to discovering why the Faraway Inn is failing and what she can do – has to do – if it's going to continue being a refuge, an excape, that people from all kinds of strange places really need.

I've read a few of Sarah Beth Durst's many books, including one of her cozy fantasies, The Spellshop. And I've dipped my toe into the cozy fantasy genre just often enough to pick up on one of its persistent themes, as sure to show up as octopus imagery in steampunk: representation for alternative identities and family structures that rule this cultural moment. I feel I owe it to faith-oriented families who are concerned about what the character of the material they share with their children to send up a mild Adult Content Advisory about it. But it's mild, perhaps because this is Durst's first foray into YA cozy fantasy, which (in her afterword) she designed around the idea that teens, too, sometimes need a safe place to escape to. Also mild, but worth mentioning, is an Occult Content Advisory because, well, Calisa and her auntie are witches and there is some magic in the book, albeit of the "only in a fantasy novel" variety.

The only other advisory I want to post here is "You may feel like you've been here before." I mean, if the idea of a B&B being a nexus of interdimensional portals gives you a sense of déjà vu, it's true that I've also reviewed Clete Barrett Smith's "Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast" trilogy and Cerberus Jones' "The Gateway" series, which are based on closely adjacent concepts, though skewing a bit more toward science fiction. When Calisa walks through a portal, though, she isn't traveling to a different planet; just a different "realm," whatever that means. Also, the kids in this kids' book are a bit older – old enough to have a romance brewing between them that could be fun to read about, if you're a kid of a certain age and aren't grossed out by kissy stuff. It's a warm, comforting, kind book with no dramatic stakes beyond whether some people will end up happy. And it has a point-of-view character who makes jaw-dropping discoveries, not only about what's going on around her, but about the power within herself.

Sarah Beth Durst's other titles include The Girl Who Could Not Dream, The Shelterlings, Spy Ring and The Warbler, as well as going-on-three sequels to The Spellshop including one, due out next year, called The Magical Cheese Emporium. Even if there's no other incentive to catch up on my reading, a title like that ought to do it.

Revelations

Love, Lies & Hocus Pocus: Revelations
by Lydia Sherrer
Recommended Ages: 12+

In this second book of "The Lily Singer Adventures," Atlanta, Georgia-based wizard Lily performs the ultimate act of rebellion against her mother and her mentor, who have both withheld knowledge from her – knowledge about her magical heritage. How? By going and finding out for herself, to her great cost. Were it not for a cat familiar who has suddenly picked up the ability to speak (or rather, Lily has learned to understand his meows), and a certain ne'er-do-well male witch (not that witches e'er do well, generally speaking), Lily might lose her very self.

So, once again, wizards in Lily's world have an inherited connection to a Source of power, manipulated with runes, charms and incantations in an ancient tongue, while witches like her friend Sebastian have no such ability. Instead, they achieve magical power by making deals with powerful beings like the fae (Sebastian's specialty) or, gulp, demons. One of the demon-summoning kind goes up against the duo in the first part of this novel, which is (once again) structured as two novellas connected by an "interlude." Lily and her wizard mentor have been tasked with protecting an ancient clay tablet on display at a local museum when it's rumored that someone plans to steal it. The rumor comes true when a hired witch summons a greater demon to break through the wizards' protective wards. Luckily, a mysterious Someone has forged a link between Lily and her protective cat, Sir Kipling, and plugged both of them into a supply of power beyond anything she's been prepared to understand.

The interlude finds Sebastian doing some witchy detective work to find out who hired the witch who attempted the museum heist. Unfortunately, Lily isn't ready to hear him when he tells her that he thinks it's the wizard they encountered back in Book 1, who has extended an invitation to learn more about where she (and they) come from. She's so tempted by the possibilities of what she may learn that she won't even listen to her cat's advice, and hares off to the stately home of John Faust LeFay – a name that ought to set off alarm bells in any scholarly mind. Of course he turns out to be the father she hardly remembers, whose very name her mother always refused to speak. Of course he and his social-climbing mother, Ursula, have plans for Lily's future representing a level of control she isn't keen on submitting to. Of course John turns out to be a monster, and falling into his clutches may be a mistake Lily won't be able to unmake. Not without help, at least.

Once again, this adventure points up the dangers of power and the desire for it, of meddling in little-understood forces, of opening pathways to evil and of withholding information that may do good. Lily and Sebastian face some chilling adversaries in this book, and their odds of survival are never lower than when there are misunderstandings between them. Petty jealousies – her over a cute witch he dallies with, him over a handsome FBI agent who takes her on a date. The secrets and silences of Lily's mother and her mentor, who happens to be Sebastian's highly disapproving aunt, don't help. And of course, her hard-headedness becomes a danger of its own, when even her cat is talking sense at her and she won't listen. What it leads to is a threat that isn't resolved at the end of this book, but only postponed – a threat that hangs over not only Lily but the entire world of "mundanes," or unmagical muggles like you and me. It's a thought to make one shiver, and perhaps hasten to curl up with a cozy cup of tea and the third book in this series, Allies.

Besides about eight books in this series (plus novellas, short stories and whatnot), Lydia Sherrer is the Kentucky-based, cat-loving author of the novel Accidental Witch and the short story Ashes of Hope and co-author with John Ringo of the "TransDimensional Hunter" quartet.

Beginnings

Love, Lies & Hocus Pocus: Beginnings
by Lydia Sherrer
Recommended Ages: 12+

I was ordering some books in the Once Upon a Tim series, so I could review them as a complete set, when I decided that I had to buy one more thing to qualify for free shipping. Impulse, combined with a cheap price and an agreeable-seeming synopsis, led me to choose this book to fill out the order. And then all the other books in my order arrived, but this one didn't. I tracked the shipment and found that it had allegedly reached a distribution center in my ZIP code, but had gone no further in the two weeks since. I opted to re-order it (at no extra charge) because I had lost any confidence that the delivery would ever happen. And eventually it did arrive. And then, the moment I opened the book, a page fell out – part of the table of contents ‐ and several other pages soon followed. So, before I had even formed an opinion of this book based on its storyline, characters and style, I felt a certain sense of grievance. I'm happy (to a certain degree of happiness) to report that my complaints about this book end there. Yes, the binding is of substandard quality. But the contents thus bound are quite enjoyable.

Lily is a wizard, and her friend Sebastian is a witch. This might strike fans of a certain boy wizard with a scar on his forehead (so described by Sebastian at one point in this book) as a reversal of gender roles, but gender has nothing to do with the distinction between wizard and witch, in Sherrer's world building. Witches do transactional magic, of the "something given, something gained" persuasion, dealing with spirits, fae creatures and (in some cases) demons – though Sebastian wisely stays away from that last lot. Wizards, meanwhile, have an inherited ability to tap into an impersonal Source of power, using runes and spells in an ancient language called Enkinim to focus their intent. Lily's day job is to manage the archives at the library of a Georgia women's college, and her afterwork career seems to revolve around extricating Sebastian – the ne'er-do-well nephew of her prim and proper wizard mentor – from whatever trouble he finds himself in.

This book isn't quite a novel. It's more like two novellas, held together by a connecting interlude. Episode 1 is "Hell Hath No Fury," in which Sebastian is hired to lay the ghost that is haunting a plantation-style mansion, making it unfit to live in and impossible to sell. Sebastian finds a ghost, all right, but he isn't the problem. The problem is a curse put on the man and his house by a jilted lover, who was apparently one of Lily's lot. So, he calls her in for an assist, and figuring out how the long-dead witch cast a spell that is still wreaking havoc proves to be almost as hard as breaking it. After that comes the interlude of "Chasing Rabbits," in which Sebastian goes after a junkie friend who robbed him of a magically significant heirloom, only to get caught up in a dangerous game with an Atlanta drug gang. And that leads right into Episode 2, "Möbius Strip," set in a small Georgia town that's locked in a time loop that becomes more dangerous each time it repeats because the magic powering it is fading fast, and if it fails completely, hundreds of people could become trapped between worlds. Figuring out who has Sebastian's artifact is only the first battle in a dangerous campaign to keep terrible power out of the wrong hands. And there, to avoid spoiling it too much, I'll leave you.

Syonpsis-wise, I mean. Review-wise, I want to say that Lily and Sebastian are an odd couple in the best sense – the kind whose patter is endlessly entertaining and whose development, as characters and a relationship, promises lots of fun yet to come. Lily is a bookish, cat hair covered, tea drinking stickler for proper behavior, while Sebastian has a rakish charm, an allergy to authority, and a knack for flying by the seat of his pants and somehow making it work. You'd think they wouldn't be able to stand each other, yet there's a tenderness between them that neither of them has looked straight in the eye. And despite the comedic tone that prevails overall, there's an undercurrent of tragedy that tugs at one's heart strings: the sense that with modern technology doing what it does, there isn't much need for their kind of talent anymore – a sense that both wizardry and witchcraft, for different reasons, are on their way out, even while those practicing both arts in the present feel cut off from their own history. Could they represent the twilight of magic? Or might they be the ones to stage a brilliant comeback? I guess I'll have to keep reading their story to find out.

This is the first book of a series of books whose titles all begin with "Love, Lies & Hocus Pocus," though the series itself is billed as "The Lily Singer Adventures." The other titles in the series end, respectively, with the words Revelations, Allies, Legends, Betrayal, Identity and Kindred, plus there are a couple separately published novellas titled A Study in Mischief and Cat Magic and a spinoff "Dark Roads Trilogy" about Sebastian's origin, with one book so far, titled Accidental Witch. And for what it's worth, I've already gone back to my online bookseller of choice and ordered Love, Lies & Hocus Pocus: Revelations – at least partly so I could qualify for free shipping on a DVD box set of Columbo.

'Once Upon a Tim' books 1-4

One Upon a Tim
The Labyrinth of Doom
The Sea of Terror
The Quest of Danger
by Stuart Gibbs
Recommended Ages: 8+

In the first of these four short, kid-friendly, adorably illustrated adventures, Tim and his best friend Belinda seize their one opportunity to escape being peasants – trying out for knighthood. The alternative, for Tim, is a lifetime of dawn-to-dusk drudgery with nothing to show for it but a mud hut over his head and a cup of gruel now and then. For Belinda (who disguises herself as a boy and takes the name Bull) there are two choices: housewife or witch, neither of which appeals. Joined by the Ferkle, the village idiot, they jump at the offer to become knights, signing on with Prince Ruprecht and his wizard counselor, Nerlim, to rescue the fair Princess Grace from a smelly monster (the stinx). Little do they know they all, and not just Ferkle, are being taken for fools.

Obviously, adventures will be less than straightforward when everything on the map has "of Doom" in its name. As Nerlim comments when Prince Ruprecht tells him to stop being such a scaredy-cat because everything looks perfectly fine: "That's what I'm afraid of. This is called the River of Doom. Why would it be called the River of Doom if there wasn't any doom?" Favorite quote. But at the risk of spoiling what is to come, Ruprecht and Nerlim prove to be the boss villains throughout the remaining three books of the series, which feature a quest to resecue Grace from the center of a monster-infested maze, a sea voyage past half the perils in Homer's Odyssey, and another sea chase from the edge of the world to Atlantis, featuring the other half of those perils. Cyclopes! Krakens! Whirlpools! Sirens! And of course, a kingdom under the waves – but not the one you think! It's all there, arranged in loopy harmony with a tale of a non-traditional princess, a secretly intelligent idiot and two knights-in-training who have more spirit than the whole Knight Brigade of the Kingdom of Merryland.

I've enjoyed many of Stuart Gibbs' books for younger readers – usually not so young as the target audience of this series, though. And it wasn't just because of the age target that I didn't enjoy this set quite as much. To start, there is less of them to enjoy. The stories are humorous; the illustrations by Chris Choi are delightful; but even at the speed of Gibbs' typical offerings, these books go by awful fast and leave a lightweight impression behind. The vocab-building "IQ boosters" are a nice touch, and there's a certain whimsical quality to the narrator's way of addressing modern-day kids as if he understands exactly how different his world is from theirs. But the anachronisms don't stop there, building up to a gender politics-tinged finish that wouldn't leave any disciple of Wokism unsatisfied. But it left me less than fully satsified, and there I'll leave it.

Gibbs is also the author of now 10 FunJungle books, the Last Musketeer and Moon Base Alpha trilogies, the Charlie Thorne quartet and 13 Spy Camp novels, each of which I'm somewhere in the midst of reading and would (so far) recommend to anyone with a funnybone to tickle and a taste for adventure.

Two Non-Reviews

Love at First Fright
by Nadia El-Fassi
Recommended Ages: 16+

This is not a review of this book. I'm not qualified to write one, because I didn't finish it. But since I put it down, I've slowly gathered resolve not to pick it up again. So in lieu of a review, informed by a complete read-through of the book, I'm just going to explain from my own personal perspective why I'm not going to review it. Maybe, if this concept seems to work, I'll try it out on a number of other books whose spines have been staring me out of countenance, with a bookmark sticking out of them, in some cases for years.

I picked up this attractive-looking novel at my small town's independent bookstore. I was intrigued by the concept of a "cozy paranormal romance," featuring a novelist who can see dead people (and pets), riding herd on the film adaptation of her horror novel, who at first objects to the dashing leading man who doesn't fit her mental picture of the character she created but with whom, against her will, she soon becomes infatuated. It had the hallmarks of a Hallmark Channel movie, with an added touch of ghostliness. I should have read a little more into the word "cozy" in the genre description, however. I'm a noob when it comes to "cozy" fiction and it's only slowly dawning on me that an essential part of the coziness apparatus is a tendency to prioritize representing fringe communities and identities over just telling a great story.

In short, apart from a certain steamy eroticism that overdelivered on my romantic expectations, this book (so far as I read into it) didn't deliver much at all on the spooky front. Meanwhile, it was so on-the-nose about its characters' lifestyle choices that I felt like I was being hectored at by the catechist of a sect whose morality is a retrograde-inversion of the moral code packaged with my faith. If you like, you can read this as the type of criticism that amounts to admitting the critic's blindness. But I'm not known for hurling books away from me on account of a non-heterosexual character or two. I do, however, think "cozy" should mean something better than badly structured, underpowered, and loaded with propaganda for cutting-edge gender ideology. Also, with a cast of characters as large as this book, my willing suspension of disbelief can only weather a certain percentage of individuals each representing his, her, or (choke) their unique shade of the kink rainbow.

It would have served me well if I had read the author's trigger warning in the foreparts of this book. Had I noticed there was a trigger warning at all, I might have hesitated to buy. But she did disclose that overcoming stigma, sextortion and homophobia were themes, as well as the whole dom-sub polarity that I find, after dipping my toe in, really makes my flesh crawl. Put that on me. No, I take that back; keep that off me and don't bother telling me where you do put it.

A couple weeks ago, I drove on impulse to the cineplex at the next larger city to the west of where I live, about an hour each way, just to see this movie, Roofman starring Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst and Peter Dinklage. It's based on a true story that I heard about at the time it was in the news – about an escaped serial robber of McDonald's restaurants who hid out in a Toys'R'Us for, like, six months before being recaptured. Nobody happened to look inside the hiding place that he turned into a micro-apartment, despite a number of items disappearing from stock – including a steady shrinkage of Peanut M&Ms.

I can't exactly blame the movie for it, but at a certain point during the run-time – the scene where Tatum, dining out with members of a church group he has gotten involved with, faces a police officer who is skeptical of his claim to be an undercover agent – I decided I had seen as much of it as I cared to, and went home. Give or take a stop at Taco John's.

I can't put my finger on the reason I dropped out of watching the movie, despite paying full price to see it in a theater. It wasn't terrible. Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst are still looking nice after all these years. They have some good chemistry together. Peter Dinklage was adorably hateable. The situation had a certain pathos to it.

I guess it just made me squirm. The nervousness that ran through me as I watched Tatum's character floundering through his extended prison break started to vibrate at the precise frequency of the sensation that there must be something at home that I needed to take care of. I tried to talk myself out of it, but I finally caved in and left.

Previously, when I've done that, it was because I really hated the movie. That wasn't the case with Roofman. But I didn't love it enough to keep watching it, even when all it would have cost me to stay (over and above what it cost me to be there in the first place) was maybe another 45 minutes sat in a reasonably comfortable seat. It's mysterious. But if I were to assess this movie, based on my incomplete viewing, I guess the final verdict would be, "I just couldn't sit still through it."

Dead to Me

Dead to Me
by Anton Strout
Recommended Ages: 14+

Simon Canderous used to use his weird power of psychometry – the ability to read the history of objects by touching them – to leverage a lucrative life of crime. Now he mostly uses it for good, working for New York City's Department of Extraordinary Affairs, Other Division. To be sure, he still cruises swap meets, looking for items charged with sentimental value so he can sell them back to their original owners – it helps pay the rent. He isn't really looking to mix with the restless dead or the brain-munching undead. But sometimes, duty calls.

Duty calls when Simon and his DEA mentor, Connor, are faced by an aggressive ghost in a back alley. The plot darkens when an attractive female ghost shows up at their workplace, strangely lifelike despite being dead. The trail of clues leads to a group of cultists (a.k.a. the Forces of Darkness) who have somehow managed to achieve government recognition as an alternative lifestyle. Something they're doing is keeping Irene, the ghost, tethered to the physical plane, and is driving other ghosts insane. Something that soon costs Simon's ex-girlfriend her life and puts another beautiful (but perhaps evil) woman in mortal danger. And even though Simon is only starting to understand how to control his powers, they will become crucial in the coming showdown with evil, as well as some hilarious scenes of paranormal action and danger.

The nearest comparison I can make with this book is Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Simon Canderous is a young, hot-headed everydude who happens to have a rare magical talent, a roguish streak, a goofy sense of humor and tastes that range from knee-length leather jackets to Count Chocula action figures. He works on the side of Good but sometimes lets himself get too close to the forces of darkness, perhaps because his own unsavory background gives him an insight into what's up with them. He has a certain sex appeal, but he somehow isn't very successful with the ladies. He has power, vulnerability, dorkiness and cool all wrapped up in a self-deprecating package. He's honest but he also guards some heavy secrets. His appeal as a lead character and narrator would draw me into a long, open ended series. Alas, it isn't a long one, and again alas, it's now firmly closed.

This is the first book in the four-book Simon Canderous series by Anton Strout, an urban fantasy author, podcaster and blogger who, sadly, died in 2020 at age 50. Other titles in the series include Deader Still, Dead Matter and Dead Waters. He also wrote the Spellmason Chronicle trilogy of Alchemystic, Stonecast and Incarnate and a baker's dozen of short stories, including several Simon Canderous tales. Alas, his personal website now redirects to a Korean massage site. He left behind a wife, two kids and seven novels. Bookwise, not much. I'm sorry I encountered him too late to look forward to more. But through Simon (sniffle) he's alive to me.

BONUS NONSENSE: From the "not to be confused with" department, here are some other books titled Dead to Me or close to it, according to Fantastic Fiction: Dead to Me, a 2025 mystery by Gytha Lodge; You're So Dead to Me, a 2023 Grimdale Graveyard mystery by Steffanie Holmes; Dead to Me, a 2020 Grave Talker novel by Annie Anderson; a 2026 mystery of the same name by Jessie Keane; a 2023 Hidden Norfolk murder mystery by J.M. Dalgliesh; a 2024 Kelsey Hawk mystery by Kate Bold; a 2012 Scott & Bailey mystery by Cath Staincliffe; a 2021 urban fantasy by Rachel Morton and Mason Sabre; a 2023 Thornwood Academy young adult fantasy by LJ Swallow; a 2017 Kate Matthews mystery by Stephen Edger; a 2026 Gulf Coast Reaper urban fantasy by Tegan Maher; a 2024 Mountain Shadow cozy mystery by Tarah Benner; a 2016 historical mystery by Lesley Pearse; a 2015 young adult novel by Mary McCoy; a 2016 young adult novel by Cristy Watson; a 2017 mystery collection by Dean Wesley Smith; Jack Kerouac Is Dead to Me, a 2020 young adult romance by Gae Polisner; Dead to Me, a 2018 Cold Case Psychic gay romance by Pandora Pine; a 2018 Harry Russo Diaries urban fantasy by Lisa Emme; You're Dead to Me, a 2024 young adult fantasy by Amy Christine Parker; Dead to Me, a 2025 paranormal romance by Jeanette Clarke; and possibly a 2022 Burton and Fielding mystery by Pamela Murray called Signs, for which Dead to Me seems to be either a subtitle or an alternate title. This book is well down the list, so perhaps you'll recognize one or more of these titles. Comment if you dare.

A Quiche Before Dying

A Quiche Before Dying
by Jill Churchill
Recommended Ages: 15+

Jane Jeffry is a widowed mother of three in a Chicago suburb who has an on-and-off romance with a police detective named Mel, with whom she has already solved a couple of crimes. One summer week while two of her kids are away from home and her too-perfect mother has dropped in for a visit, Jane decides to take a neighborhood writing class focusing on autobiographies. But instead of writing her own life story, she starts the memoir of a fictional character. Also, she gets sidetracked when a horrid woman gets murdered on the second night of the class.

Mrs. General Pryce – I don't know how she's styled to her friends, because she doesn't have any – is as battle-axy as they come, but even she isn't equal to a stiff snort of poison. It apparently got into her system through a quiche that Jane brought to the dinner party, attended only by members of the writing class. Difficult as it is her for her to suspect her friends and neighbors, Jane must wrestle with the fact that someone in that class is a murderer – and having killed once, they may kill again. And with the police making little apparent progress, Jane feels responsible to solve the crime before the week is up, and the class ends, and the suspect gets away.

This is a quick-paced, cheerful murder mystery with vivid characters, crisp dialogue, a bright streak of humor and some romance as well. Despite her self-image as a domestic frump, Jane proves to be a dangerous opponent for a killer to tangle with. It's a warm, cozy, down-to-earth mystery populated by suburban moms, teenagers, pets, appetizing dishes – and I'm not just talking about Detective Mel here – all livened up by one dastardly character and a murder that you almost don't feel bad about, except that it means there's a murderer about.

This 1993 novel, not to be confused with a mystery of the same name by Joanne Pence, is the third of 16 books in the "Jane Jeffry" series by Jill Churchill (1943-2023), an award-winning, Kansas City-based mystery author. It feels weird to say this about an era I lived through (I was in college in 1993), but these days this book reads like a period piece. Some other titles in the series include Grime and Punishment, The Class Menagerie, Silence of the Hams, War and Peas, Fear of Frying, Mulch Ado About Nothing and The Accidental Florist. From the 1970s to 2013, Churchill also wrote three "Lady of Fire" novels under the pen name Valerie Vayle, seven "Grace and Favor" novels," and around 15 other novels, often under the pen names of Vayle, Amanda Singer and Janice Young Brooks.

Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir
Recommended Ages: 13+

Ryland Grace wakes up in a weird, mechanized hospital with no memory of how he got there. In the neighboring beds are two dead bodies. To start, he can't even remember his name. He applies a little science and math – things he's evidently good at – to figure out that he's on a spaceship traveling at high speed, far from Earth. And he's been put in a medically induced coma to pass the time before arriving ... where? And for sake's sake, why?

The pieces slowly fall into place. Grace is a sometime middle school science teacher who, before he was that, wrote a major paper in which he rudely told off the entire scientific community and declared that alien life didn't have to be water-based. Then a threat to all life on earth pops up – little alien microbes that are stealing energy from the sun. Given enough time, their effect on the sun will cool the earth to the point where crops will fail and billions of people will die. Because of the strangeness of these bitty bugs, which Grace dubs Astrophage, that rude paper of his suddenly becomes very relevant, and – well, to make a long story short, he finds himself second in command of a mission to save the planet that has a blank check from every country on Earth. A mission from which there can be no return.

They've spotted similar issues of stars going dim all over the galaxy – and exactly one star, Tau Ceti, that should be dimming but isn't. So that's where the starship Hail Mary has to go, powered by brand-new technology (such as a propulsion system that uses Astrophage for fuel – I don't know, read the book for more details). But only a tiny minority of would-be astronauts can survive the trip, thanks to a rare gene that gives them a better-than-even chance of surviving years in a medical coma. And though he wasn't supposed to be one of those astronauts – how he got on the ship at all is the very last memory to come back – Grace is, fortunately or otherwise, the only crew member who actually woke up. The fate of humanity depends entirely on him. He isn't alone for long, however. Almost as soon as he arrives in Tau Ceti orbit, he encounters a ship from Epsilon Eridani that has come for the same reason. Like (gulp) first contact with aliens and whatnot.

So much for the blow-by-blow synopsis. It's generalities from here, so you don't get bored and go read something else, or so I don't spoil the whole book for you. Grace and Rocky, the sole Eridian to survive his planet's mission to discover what makes Tau Ceti special and how to use it to save his world, hit it off and quickly form a touching friendship, despite Rocky being the least anthropomorphic alien you've ever met in sci-fi. What sets him apart from humankind? A better question would be, what doesn't? Despite the challenges of communicating and working together – such as mutually unpronounceable languages and life-support environments that would almost instantly kill each other if they went over for a visit – they form a highly productive partnership and get right to work cracking the problem of how to save their worlds from the Astrophage. Whenever everything seems to be going well for a moment, a disastrous setback almost destroys all hope. And then, like the STEM heroes they are, they fight back with science, tech, engineering and math. Big time.

It's a novel teeming with thought-provoking speculative concepts, mind-expanding scientific facts, heartstring-tugging emotions, excitement, humor and suspense. It's written like a science fiction twist on Raymond Chandler's recipe for a hardboiled detective story: whenever the plot stalls, bring in a guy with a gun. Only in this genre, the "guy with a gun" is just space with its endlessly creative ways to kill you, your whole family, and the planet you rode in on. It has some characters, most of them only seen in flashbacks, whom you won't quickly forget, such as the all-powerful Ms. Stratt (Project H.M.'s first-in-command), and a devastating twist toward the end ... and another ... and another ... some of which you'll start to anticipate (I remember counting the paragraphs until one particular penny dropped) while some will keep you guessing until the end. It's good stuff. It definitely makes me keen to see what Hollywood does with it.

I went in search of this book after I saw a trailer for the (at this writing) upcoming film adaptation, featuring Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace. It may be unwise to judge such things from a film trailer, but it looks like the movie might preserve some of the non-sequential narrative structure of the book. Andy Weir is also the author of the fantastic novel The Martian, previously made into a terrific movie starring Matt Damon, and a heist-on-the-moon novel titled Artemis, which I haven't read. Yet. His short stories/novellas include The Egg and James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal. From the two works of his that I've read, I gather that he's a highly intelligent guy who does tons of research and, at the same time, doesn't lack a popular touch. These are, bottom line, fun books to read.