Current Writing Projects

As we enter the new year, I am currently working on several writing projects in various stages in development. I post these for you to keep me accountable and offer any feedback.

• A book on Christianity and the horror genre, looking at a biblical theology of horror (i.e., how horror is used in the scriptures), the history of horror in art, literature, theater, and film in the course of Christian history, a reflection on the significance of the dark and macabre in Christian holidays and worship practices, and a Christian engagement with the most notable characters, archetypes, and subgenres of horror. Currently, I’m torn between writing the entire work myself or enlisting the help of friends in a collection of essays.
• A play and/or screenplay revolving around the posthumous exposing of damaging facts about a highly esteemed Christian artist and theologian and the impact it has, particularly on the young writer who uncovers the scandalous information.
• A screenplay I started six years ago about mysterious supernatural occurrences on a college campus.
• A new screenplay based upon Gaston Leroux’s gothic mystery novel The Phantom of the Opera, paying particular attention to being faithful to the novel and emphasizing redemption themes.
• A novel set eight years in the future, in a time of increased economic and political unrest, yet featuring certain postmillennial undercurrents.
• A series of short novels formatted as a journal or epistolary account of the legends of Robin Hood. 
• I would love to write the lyrics/libretto for a rock opera based on the conversion of one of my favorite saints of the church. The key, as with some of the other above projects, is to find the right creative partners.

Blog Weirdness

Okay, so I noticed in my feed reader that WordPress has decided to republish to feed some of my posts from several years ago. Particularly of note is one on the ESV Bible, of which I gave a glowing review back in the day (six years ago). My opinion of this translation, while still appreciative, has mellowed in the last few years and my review does not entirely reflect my current views on this particular version. Another post seemingly sent to readers is a paper I wrote on the Lord’s Supper (which, luckily, I do still agree with). I’m not sure what other posts have or will be cast up as “new” in your feed reader, but be warned that they may be several years old.

Apocryphal Fun

It was announced this week that Mel Gibson is set to produce and possibly direct a film based on the story of the apocryphal books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees. Despite some of his remarks and personal problems in recent years, Gibson remains one of the few directors I would trust to maintain the epic and moving atmosphere of the original, as is his violent but emotion-driven style. Having particularly loved the chronicles of Maccabees for some time, I thought I might share a favorite sequence that would make for an interesting scene on film: the bungled suicide of Razis.

Time of Shadows

The following short story was perhaps my last straightforward ghost story, written during my junior year of college (circa 2005). The attempt to undermine the traditional ghost lore is already present, though masked in very traditional mountain legend language and local color. I never really gave the story an adequate end and, looking back, wish that I had developed the theology of the piece a bit more in light of my understanding of “ghost” phenomenon. However, six years after writing, I believe it is best to leave the story as I wrote it at the time.

There is a point in the evening when the sun has finally gone to rest beyond the horizon, and yet its light still lingers on, reminding everything else of its continued presence, even after it has departed. The vanished sun’s phantom glow allows the things of the day to remain visible for a few more waking moments before the shadows of the evening come to suffocate them and drain them of their life in the daylight. These shadows come quickly, and one should not be found alone along a solitary dirt road, much worse near a graveyard or an old, dilapidated house or barn, when the time of shadows comes. That is, lest there be someone or something waiting in those shadows for you.

For Walpurgisnaght: Stoker’s Dracula’s Guest

As a literature nerd, the eve of St. Walpurgis’ Feast (May Day) cannot come without this short story, originally meant to be the second chapter of Dracula, crossing my mind. Florence Stoker published it after the death of her husband Bram.  Courtesy of Project Gutenberg.

DRACULA’S GUEST, by Bram Stoker

When we started for our drive the sun was shining brightly on Munich, and the air was full of the joyousness of early summer. Just as we were about to depart, Herr Delbrück (the maître d’hôtel of the Quatre Saisons, where I was staying) came down, bareheaded, to the carriage and, after wishing me a pleasant drive, said to the coachman, still holding his hand on the handle of the carriage door:

A Poem: The Night Terrors

I wrote this little poem after reading a friend’s tweet about waking up in the middle of the night after watching a vampire movie. Sometimes my imagination is sparked by the most random things.

Do you wake affright at night,
Hoping for the morning light,
Reeling from most haunted dreams of
Dark phantasmal gore?

Good Friday

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
tortured for our iniquities;
the chastisement he bore is health for us
and by his scourging we are healed.
We had all strayed like sheep,
each of us had gone his own way;
but the LORD laid upon him
the guilt of us all.

- Isaiah 53:55-6, New English Bible

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Articles on Halloween and Faith

I wanted to take a moment to point you to a couple of my favorite articles to come out this year on a Christian view of Halloween.  I think Dr. Mouw and Dr. Jordan have articulated a very refreshing and enlightening view of Halloween that many Christians should open their eyes to.

A Message for Every Christian Man

Darrin Patrick, pastor of The Journey, St. Louis and author of Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission nails it.