Eric's Blog About Books- Issue #1- The Black Company

I have decided to start up a sort of miniblog here about the hundreds upon thousands of stories I have read and loved. I firmly belive that God created us to tell stories to each other, and I am conveniently capable of sharing about books.

This first post is about Glen Cook's The Black Company.

Here is a handy little summary, via wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Company_(novel)

The best way to state the premise of The Black Company is to imagine a version of Lord of the Rings from the point of view of a minor soldier of Sauron's army. It is deliberately void of the cliches of the fantasy genre- no elves or dwarves, no clear line between bad guys and good guys, no stalwart hero determined to do right. There are a few stock conventions present, but they all seem to be slightly off- the Evil Empire is actually of benefit to the lower classes, the Wicked Sorcerors come across as oddly human (even while raining thaumaturgic death upon their enemies), the Noble Resistance is just as heartless, cruel and psychotic as the Empire they're fighting. The whole thing plays like what it would look like if your standard fantasy novel was mere propoganda from the side that won.

The plot goes something like this: The Black Company is a mercenary oufit in a quasi-medieval world. They fight for pay and are generally the best, sneakiest, most professional soldiers around. They suscribe firmly to the belief that moral absolutism is a myth, that ultimate good depends on where you stand. They get hired by the aforementioned Evil Empire, headed by an extremely powerful Sorceress known as the Lady, who commands the Ten Who Were Taken, or just the Taken (it helps to think of it as the Lady= Sauron, the Taken= Ringwraiths). While serving against the Rebels, they hear of a prophecy that a messianic figure called the White Rose will be reincarnated and bring down the Lady. Being cynical, world weary soldiers, they don't believe it... until one of their members believes he's found her.

It's a great plot, filled with intrigue, plots within plots, sly humor, and wonderous imagination. But the plot is not what makes me love this series. There is also the distinct and highly realistic characters.

Croaker, the narrator, is the Annalist (a.k.a. historian) and physician of the Black Company. The book's framing device is Croaker writing the current events down as company history. The later books have fun with this device by having later annalists read Croaker's accounts and wonder how much of it was actually accurate and unbiased. Croaker is a closet romantic, in love with history and a complete believer in following Company traditions. He is also a highly trained and usually effective doctor, hence the nickname.

One-Eye and Goblin are two diminuative minor wizards who serve with the Company. They are mischevious, malicious, puckish, and engaged in a century long feud. They appear to hate each other but couldn't live without each other.

Soulcatcher is one of the Taken, and the Company's patron. He is your standard evil sorceror, filled with doom and gloom and unholy power, except he's a pretty reasonable guy who does right for those under him. He has a habit of switching voices every sentence, and it's implied that all the voices are actually him using the souls of the people he's killed. He's also a narcissistic megalomaniac without much long term focus.

Raven is a mysterious man with a mysterious past and mysterious motivations. A badass, cold and hard, doesn't give a crap about anything. He could and does piss off one of the Taken and doesn't even bat an eye. Or so he likes to show people. He's later revealed to be an emotional cripple whose only skill is with a blade, and he is not shown in a positive light at all.

Darling is a deafmute orphan that Raven and the rest of the Company adopt. The fact that the Black Company rescued her is just about the only reason we have to think of them as the good guys.

And there are a hundred more characters in the first book alone. Glen Cook appears to have a gift for making characters come to life.

One final note on the series; Glen Cook has a fascinating technique of zooming up close to minor details of his characters' lives and then zooming out to the world view. For example, Croaker writes about how the Company is ordered to take a critically placed fortress from the Rebels, and then hold it throughout the winter. He mentions in about a paragraph that they succeeded with few casualties. He then spends the next five pages describing a card game the soldiers are playing, and them wondering who's turn it is to go out in the cold and get supplies from the town.

The Black Company is almost a deconstruction of the fantasy genre, in that it asks, "What would the world look like if things like black magic and evil overlords and Tolkienesque worlds and so on actually existed? How would people respond?"

Till next time.

On a Monday???

WOW! So today I finally did it! Well The Dude (Ryan Albright) and I served at Lydia House today! It was really cool, different, tiring, and it seemed calmer than usual!

Really Cool because everyone was shocked to see us! The kids came Running at us, probably because the were tired of sitting in there with the adults listening to the lesson! LOL!!!

Different because IT WAS A MONDAY! Everyone was asking, What are you doing here on a monday?

Tiring because it was just The Dude and I with around 11 or 12! Wowzers!

& Calmer because there weren't a lot of us (even though It would have been really cool if more of us). Actually we were served food today! I was blessed to be the women's presents today!

A woman prayed today and it touched me so! It showed that a lot of these women really just loved the unconditional love of God!

Thank You God!

Camping!!!

So here's the deal. We are going camping June 25th-27th, up in the beautiful Kings Canyon, about 30 miles past Hume Lake.

We're leaving bright and early, at 7am on Friday, June 25th.

Cost: Not sure yet...but not more than $20.

More info to follow...but put the date on your calendar.

Where do I go during Sunday's Second Hour?

Since the college community is not meeting Sunday mornings this summer, many of you are wondering what in the world you should do instead. Here are some suggestions.

#1 Go to church. Some of you have gotten into the bad habit of sleeping in, missing church, and then going to college group. Less than stellar idea. Go to church!

#2 Visit another ABF. Since the college community is age-specific and temporary, view this as a great opportunity to visit another ABF and meet other people at Grace. The Gathering (Room 202), Open Source (Room 206), and Global Engagement (Room 200) would all be great places to visit and get connected to other people at Grace. They don't bite. If they do, let me know and I'll teach you self-defense skills.

#3 Go to lunch. View this summer as a time to take initiative in creating good habits of friendship. Grab a few others and head over to Baja Sonora and discuss the sermon. The key here is that someone, at some point, needs to take initiative and lead out. Be creative!

#4 Wander aimlessly in your own misery. You could spend the time feeling awkward, pacing the hallways, spending extra time in the bathroom. This is a legitimate option. And one that many of you prefer. Sorry, I couldn't help it!

So When's the Next College Group?

Our next meeting as a whole group is June 17th, at my house (1512 E Roosevelt Rd), 6:30pm-8pm. Bring your Bibles and a notebook, as we'll be studying the book of Revelation together.

We are also still serving at the Lydia House and at Precious Life Shelter on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, like we have been for the last year.

**Remember: We have our camping trip coming up in about a month - make sure you clear your calendars so you can join us as we head up to Kings Canyon, a beautiful and rugged area in the Sierras. It's June 25th-27th. I'll probably do signups via facebook or something like that.

Samaritan House, May 18th

I smelled:

• Turkey
• Mashed potatoes
• Bread

I saw:

• Rows and rows of men eating dinner
• Three children
• A man that I’ve seen many times since the time we started serving there. He used to have a beard. He doesn’t anymore. I think the way he chews his food is funny.
• A few people we’ve never served with before
• The windows in the kitchen are these cubes with a wavy kind of texture. When you try to see out of them it looks like you’re looking out at a hundred tiny beach scenes. It’s weird.
• White rice
• Canned cranberries
• Green beans

I felt:

• For a while it seemed pretty warm in the kitchen, beyond the point of being comfortable.
• Sticky jelly from the lunches we were putting together
• Steam coming up from the trays we were serving food from
• Ice in my hands

I heard:

• Ladles clinking against plates
• Plates clinking against each other
• Plates being put on the metal surface where they’re picked up and brought to tables
• Orders to stop dishing up food from one man. Another man saying, “No, we just gotta keep going, we just gotta keep going.”

Lunch with Scotty

I had lunch with a guy named Scott Jones today. Some of you may know him. He is a man who has dedicated his life to serving and loving the city of Long Beach. He doesn't do this by serving at homeless shelters, or giving his money away to charities. He does it by creating a non-profit organization whose goal is to cultivate relationships with all of the different people and neighborhoods of Long Beach by throwing giant barbecues and breakfasts and other events all over the city, bringing people together into loving communities. He does this by greeting everyone he sees with a smile and an honest "How are you doing?" He does this by moving from Belmont Shore to downtown Long Beach in order to build loving relationships with his neighbors and to open up his home to anyone who needs a friend, a meal, a refuge, or just a good time. He does this by simply caring for the people around him, asking himself what they need, and doing what he can to provide it. He does it by meeting his mailman and offering him a cold drink on a hot day. It's not complicated.

I don't know what I mean for you to get out of that, but I know that if I want to show God's love, and have it change this city in crazy ways, I'm not going to do that from behind a glass counter. Scott certainly isn't.


www.welovelb.org.