Elijah David

When it comes to Christmas specials featuring Santa Claus, Rankin/Bass'  Santa Claus is Comin' to Town  is probably the most well-known, and with good reason. It's classic and the years have been kind to it, much like they have to A Charlie Brown Christmas . But for many years,  Comin' to Town  was not my favorite version of the Santa myth. That honor went to the lesser-known Life and Adventures of Santa Claus , also produced by Rankin/Bass and based on L. Frank Baum's book of the same name. Although I hadn't seen it for many years, I would still tell people that this was my favorite version of Santa's origin story. This last year, I was finally able to sit down and watch the special again, and I found myself comparing it to  Comin' to Town   as I had before, but now the scales of my favor were tipping decidedly toward the earlier special. I've been mulling over why that is, and I've come to the simple conclusion that it's all about myth an...

My friend Izzy recently ran a short story contest (the theme being Star Wars). I did not win the contest, but it was fun to write something quickly for it and she has asked the participants to share their stories. I decided to do a little speculating in mine as to what Rey's training under Luke might look like in Episode VIII. This being a work of fan fiction, all characters and related terms are copyright their respective owners, etc. On with the show... On an unnamed planet far from the traffic of interplanetary travel, in the ruins of the first Jedi Temple, Luke Skywalker sat contemplating the next task he must set his apprentice Rey. For several months he had shown her the ways of the Force, teaching her everything Obi-wan Kenobi and Yoda had taught him and many things besides. She had strength to match that of any Jedi Luke had known, but strength without training could not save her from Ben – Luke refused to think of him as Kylo Ren, refused to believe that the...

I have a short story in an anthology! My short story, "The Debt-Keeper," was published in the Crossover Alliance Anthology Vol. 2 this month. That's me on the top right of the list. :D I've been keeping this announcement under wraps until our family Christmas celebrations were past, though, because part of our gifts to our parents were copies of the anthology (which you can purchase directly from The Crossover Alliance in your ebook format of choice  here  or in Kindle and paperback formats here *). This is a big deal for me, and I've had the hardest time not spoiling the surprise. You can also check out this awesome group interview  that Peter Younghusband (who also wrote the foreword to the anthology) conducted with all the authors in the book. I wrote a little about the origins of the story and the world of John Valley where it and my two stories in When the House Whispers are set. If you'd like to get a book of stories to entertain a...

Two of my stories set in John Valley have been included in a Halloween-themed anthology put out by Oloris Publishing, When the House Whispers . This is basically my face right now. You can purchase the anthology here  in EPUB or MOBI format.

I've talked before about stories being more than "just" fiction. The topic came up again recently in a couple of conversations with some friends of mine, and I thought of another angle for the Christian who enjoys stories in all their forms. There's a spectrum of responses to the idea that stories have the power to affect us. On one extreme lie the folks who say that stories are dangerous and should be avoided at all costs unless they are safe and uplifting, free of all the bits that might make us uncomfortable or indicate anything beyond surface-level sin. On the other end sit the folks who say stories don't affect us in any way, so let's all just enjoy the show, you bunch of kill-joys. (Incidentally, there's a third group which occupies a place at either end of this; this group acknowledges the power of stories, but believes stories can only affect us positively and therefore should be enjoyed without thought or worry.)* The best stance, from my expe...

Currently Writing: Albion book 2                                NaNoWriMo prep Currently Reading: A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny                                 Blood Thirst: 100 Years of Vampire Fiction by Leonard Wolf                                 Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb                                 Monster by Mirriam Neal My friend Sky at Further Up and Further In does a blog link-up for writers called Beautiful People every so often that allows writers to delve into their characters and share those insights with each other on their blogs. This month, in anticipation of NaNoWriMo, she's changing it up and making it Beautiful Books...

"But that's not the way of it in the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually -- their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten." -- Samwise Gamgee, The Lord of the Rings , Book IV Chapter 8 In The Two Towers , Sam ponders on the sort of tale he and Frodo have fallen into, comparing it to the ones "that really mattered." For Sam, the stories that really mattered are the ones in which characters press on to the end regardless of their circumstances, and some of them had really horrible circumstances; he mentions Beren facing Morgoth (the first Dark Lord of Middle-earth) and taking one of the Silmarils from Morgoth's crown in a time when no one -- I mean no one -- could be expected to survive such an attempt, much less...