Fairy Tale Spotlight: Chronicles I [Book Review]

"Chronicles I" is the thirteenth book of the "Holy Bible," and it was written by Ezra. There is not a lot to talk about here, and I did, while reading it, wonder how I would keep the review of a good length. I'll explain why.

"Chronicles I" is the first book in the Bible that leaps backwards and begins rehashing certain things in history. The very first word is Adam. It starts there and works its way back to David who is the real hero of the book. In many ways "Chronicles I" is the second book of David but from more of a fact collecting perspective.

The first half of the book is simply talking about the lineage that led up to David, and then it goes over his acts as king in a straightforward, yet somewhat passionate manner. It's hard to explain. Ezra seemed compelled to write what he did, and what narrative that exists in this book has some punch to it. He seemed pretty inspired.

I even like the almost poetic manner in which he starts the book, simply saying the names of the first humans without explanation, before going into more detail as the story went on. He just says Adam with no explanation. I thought it was cool.

The book also has a few prayers by David which were quite good. These were not available to read in previous books. It goes over his sins as well, but the finale is all about the planning of the first house of God, which David was not permitted to build. The whole scene where he hands down the right to his son Solomon was surprisingly touching. I kind of felt like I was in the audience when it all happened.

God did not want someone who had shed blood to build his temple. This made me think about the old saying, "You have blood on your hands." I think God may actually see it this way. Very interesting.

"Chronicles I" is hard to recommend in its entirety for the purposes of entertainment. Much of it is just information gathering. But where there is narrative, the narrative is strong and powerfully written. And the coronation of Solomon is not to be missed!

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Actual Good Christian Movies

Since most Christian filmmaking is, for lack of a better term, shit, I thought it might be nice to create a list of the ones I found that were actually good. I may expand the list later on as I find more. I'll list them out and give a brief explanation of why they are so good. Keep in mind that these are movies I have actually seen. There might be more out there, but I won't list it if I haven't seen it.

---Frailty (2001): A complete work of Christian fiction that I simply will not spoil. Just trust me that I know what I am doing when I recommend it.

---The Box (2009): It could be argued that this movie is not a Christian movie at all. It's more of a supernatural thriller. Nevertheless, I do recommend it to a Christian crowd far more than most of the garbage out there. It shows the major reason God has so many problems with His humans.

---Pilgrim's Progress (1978 - Animated): From what I understand, this was a remaster of a 1950's film. It's really quite good and uses a lot of rotoscoped animation. It follows the source material well and has some genuinely creepy moments in it. A small criticism for its wooden female voice acting. This one is great for children, but, if you're an adult, it may bring you to tears in some parts.

---The Small One (1978 - Animated): An actual great Disney Christian film. It is entirely a work of fiction, but if it had actually happened, it would make sense. The story understands what is important to God when he choses to do things. This story is not only touching, it's surprisingly plausible even though it is actually fiction.

---Blood and Honey (1991 - TV Show): I usually get extremely annoyed when Biblical stories fail to follow the source material, but the way Tony Robinson tells these stories are so entertaining that I gave it a pass. These episodes are hard to find though! Good luck!

That's all for now. I'll update this list whenever I can. Just understand that there is a major difference between a Christian film and an Inspirational film. If you see a film listed as Christian/Inspirational, you should probably just pass on it. A lot of modern Christian movies employ emotional manipulation tactics to make you feel inspired while feeding you with irrelevant/baseless material. If all else fails, go watch something Satanic. You'll ironically find better quality there. Not even joking.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Neverending Story [Book Review]

"The Neverending Story" is a book written by German author Micheal Ende and published in 1979. It also may be my favorite book that I have ever read. This is not something I say lightly. Although I still come out of reading this very long book with some regrets, I cannot help but acknowledge that this book seems to connect on a personal level with myself, as if a stream of consciousness combined with my own for a period.

I, of course, saw the film which made me interested in the book. Apparently Micheal Ende hated all three films. It was a case where an author legally gave up rights to his property only to have it mishandled by people who had "better" ideas. He even tried to sue them to get them to cease making the film... but lost. That said, I do like the first two movies, but they are not the book and do miss the point. And perhaps this sort of book could not properly be translated to film without be being given the same treatment as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. It is, just as well, fine as a book.

"The Neverending Story" deals with many concepts that are not only of my interest but that are very dear to me in my own writing:

1. The concept of being a god.

2. "Fourth wall" concepts.

3. The idea that an entire reality can be "voided" out of existence.

4. "Meta narratives" where two entirely different stories are actually the same story.

5. Trans-dimensional gateways where one can enter into or leave a written universe.

6. Profound fairy concepts such as an Ouroboros that can create said gateways.

7. And lastly, the concept that imagination can restructure an environment.

There may be more, but I tried to get as much into this blog as I could. The truth of the matter was that, as I was reading this book, I realized that I was essentially exploring my own mind as I did so. I had actually already written a number of  these things into my books as T.K. Wade and through other nom de plumes. It was strange to read a book that fit snugly into my own mind.

"The Neverending Story" does heavily involve the reader in its story. It does so by manipulating him into thinking that he is reading two separate stories which are actually one. And despite the fact that I have spoiled it, it may actually still work. The story is very good at placing the reader in a headspace. There are technically three worlds here: The fairy world of Fantastica, Bastian's version of Earth, and the world you (the reader) live in. And it all comes together in a fairly convincing way that suggests that all three places do exist.

The book does extremely well to explain how imagination and love work together to keep reality in check. Imagination creates fiction and fiction inspires reality. The two places have a surprisingly symbiotic relationship. And when people stop caring (which can happen when the world convinces them to be cynical), both reality and fiction suffer for it.

The broad length of this book is important. For one, the book is called "The Neverending Story" for a reason. It feels like a huge journey that needs to be made from start to finish. There is also no padding. The book is basically split up into two even parts. Once you reach the exact middle of the book it feels as if you have reached the peak of the world's tallest mountain, but the path down is just as treacherous as the way up. It doesn't seem any easier just because you are going down, but it does, at least, feel like you are heading into the last leg of the journey. Micheal Ende designed this book that way on purpose. I'm fairly sure of this.

Another thing that will happen is that the author will place little hints of things in brief throughout the book. You may not think you can catch them all, but somehow I was able to remember them all. This struck me as odd because there were almost no redundancies of these little things. Small tidbits mentioned towards the beginning of this long book became vastly important towards the very end, and almost no mention of them through the whole body of the book. I was stunned that he went this route, but it worked. I was more surprised that I remembered them, but I suppose he just wrote them in such a way that it sat in the back of my mind, just waiting to be revisited again.

I know I have not really been spoiling the plot of the book, and that's because I think it speaks for itself well enough. If you have seen the movie, it does not replace the book at all, but it will give you an idea of the basic idea the book was going for. The book, however, is a perfectly executed engine powered by imagination. It is more than just a simple story, it is a fantastic experience that welcomes you to join in its magic. I whole-heartedly recommend this book, but just understand that, once you start, you may find yourself becoming a character in the book yourself.

Thank you, Micheal Ende, for giving this to us!

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Kings II [Book Review]

"Kings II" is the twelfth book of the "Holy Bible," and it was written by Jeremiah the prophet. And before I begin, I want to just go ahead and criticize him for his reparative, awful writing. It isn't as bad as Moses, but it was getting there.

This book followed mostly in the footsteps of the former, chronicling the good and bad of the Kings of Israel and Judah. It is the most boring part of the whole book. For every step forward, they took three steps back. It was a wreck of a book in this regard. The book only got good when it ignored the kings entirely.

The real rock stars of "Kings II" was Elijah and Elisha. Here we have something just incredibly weird. Elijah was a prophet of God that seemed to doggedly follow God in every respect. This was to the degree that God provided him with the abilities to perform miracles in a similar manner to Jesus himself.

There came this really odd point where Elijah was going to be taken up in a flaming tornado. Elisha askes that, when he is taken away, that Elijah's spirit would be given to him. This is a very odd thing to ask, since human souls don't really work that way. Even Elijah did not seem like he understood the request and merely told him that he would have to wait and see.

In full anime fashion, Elijah was taken up in a flaming tornado formed from a chariot sent from God and never seen again. And indeed, his spirit was handed down to Elisha. Elisha even acts like Elijah from this point on and proceeds to perform miracles, cure the sick, raise the dead, and many more amazing things. God really liked these guys and sent all of his angelic forces to protect them from absolutely everything. To go up against Elisha was to spell your own death by way of an angelic, flaming sword. What the heck happened here?

Soul transfer is unheard of. Spirit transfer is not, but the connotations of that would suggest that Elijah and Elisha were actually demonic beings. Keep in mind that I simply do not know what these beings were. I just don't. But the whole mystery surrounding them is more fascinating than I can properly relay with text alone.

The only other incident of note was the coronation of Jehu. God was extremely angry with the evils of King Ahab. He has Elijah ask to have a meeting with Jehu who was Ahab's commander of chariots. Without really any warning, Elijah anointed him king of Israel, briefly explained the situation, and then promptly ran out of the house. This was, quite possibly, the only example of a "hit and run coronation."

King Jehu was an evil man, but he did what God wanted him to do which was to wipe the world clean of "everything Ahab." He killed anyone and everyone associated with him. He did evil things later in life, but the point of him being anointed king in such a strange fashion came to fruition. This is important to understand because there are a number of points in history where God would use evil people to do his will.

That's really all I have to say on "Kings II." I do recommend the book for the stories of the prophets the most, but that, sadly, is all near the beginning. Most of the book is just the sad, depressing failures of the kings of Judah and Israel. Even the good ones were lukewarm at best. Some were outright murderous and horrible. It was just bad. They should have just let God be their king and let Him kill them whenever He felt like it. It would have gone a lot better if they had.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Not Knowing When It Comes to Fiction

This has got to be my worst title ever. Let me please explains what it means. When I am going to see a movie or read a book, I don't like to know anything about it. That's it.

Why do I do this? Well, because there is a trend these days to oversell stuff. Movie trailers have turned into a very repetitive art form. They have to be made a certain way, which makes them as exciting as the movie themselves. I hear people telling me about these trailers and how amazing they were. I watch the trailer too and am in agreement. Then when I finally watch the film, I am left saying to myself, "Yep, that is pretty much what the trailer led me to believe." So I always came away feeling a little disappointed.

Things have happened in my life that I did not expect. For one, I ended up playing basketball with (and humiliated by) the Harlem Globetrotters back when I was in high school. This actually happened... and there was no warning about it beforehand. I wasn't even good at basketball, but I was more than happy to play with these guys. Halve the time I never even saw the ball. One time there were two balls. It was so much fun! But the best part of it was that I didn't see it coming.

The trailer for this incident would have been all about how I got to play with the Harlem Globetrotters, and by the time the movie came around, I would be ready for it. Not quite as fun, if you ask me.

All my friends love trailers. They see it as some sort of rite of passage that needs to be enacted before the watching of the movie happens. I DO see where they are coming from; I like to watch them after the film is over. I think my opinion on this is a bit subjective. I have a particular ideal in play that I want tested every time: Will the movie or book stand on its own without all the hype? I've seen a lot of trailers that built up a bad movie that ended up ruthlessly taking my money and not giving it back when I was disappointed in it. It's a double edged sword though! If I don't see the trailer, I'll still have my money taken away by a bad film. But with the latter, I felt like I didn't feel as tricked... so still somehow better.

But how do I choose which movies and books to watch and read?! How? Without trailers, I have NOTHING! Actually, there are these little things called movie descriptions. Little blurbs that tell you the basic plot of the film. I'm sorry, but you have to get me with these blurbs. I like these things and all movies still write them. And many of the films I've willingly watched, I watched them because of these blurbs. I don't feel like I had anything spoiled for me either. All I need is a concept. Leave everything else blank until the stories fulfills it on its own.

I think that's why I like books so much. Books usually don't have trailers. All I get is a little paragraph talking about what it's basic plot is. That's all I need! After that, I feel like I am going into a story without anyone holding my hand and giving me warnings and preparations for the story that is about to unfold. This is my preferred way of taking in a story. It's mine. Just mine. Once again, this blog is extremely subjective.

I don't hate watching a movie after seeing a trailer, I just like it less than I would if I knew nothing about it. I just want the film to hit me all at once. I like to put the entire responsibility on the films crew to give me a good time without relying any on a trailer. If they can do that and I end up really entertained, then they did a good job! I don't want hype; I just want a story. That's the point I am trying to make. Thanks.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Small One [Book and Film Review]

[The main plot of the story is given, but the ending is not spoiled.]

"The Small One: A Story for Those Who Like Christmas and Small Donkeys" is a book written by Charles Tazewell in 1947. An audio version was recorded to vinyl record by Bing Crosby soon after the book's publication. In 1978, a Disney featurette would be released for the book with some minor changes and additions to the original story.

I originally saw the film for this book when I was very young. I liked it. It had solid animation done by Don Bluth, and the story was fun and touching. I was not, however, really driven to tears by it until I was much older, when I was mature enough to understand the connotations. It remains to this day one of Disney's best films, in my opinion.

The book was a little harder to come by, because it was so old, but I managed to obtain a first edition hardback. There were some differences between the book and the movie. I liked them both though.

Now, I just cannot spoil the story, but I will explain the setup. A boy has made friends with an aging donkey he calls Small One. Sadly, the donkey is so old and feeble that he cannot pull his weight in work anymore, and the boy's father tells him that Small One must be sold. In the movie, the father is very understanding of the boy's plight, but in the book he is cold and rather uncaring about the boy's feelings on the matter. This is one of the very few differences between the two versions.

The main progression of the book chronicles the boy's attempt to sell the donkey, hopefully to someone who will treat him well. A tanner is out of the question, even though it would be the simplest solution. But the difficulty in selling an old donkey to someone is that nobody really has a use for him, certainly not for a full piece of silver anyways.

The story also features a very charismatic auctioneer that is fun in both the film and the book. In fact, I think Disney really appreciated the character. His lines are almost word for word from the book. That is not to say that he was a particularly good person, but he was entertaining and fun to see and hear. It made the character come across as realistic on both accounts.

Disney included a set of three greedy merchants that were obsessed with making money in any manner that was available to them. This was not in the book at all, but it was still a funny addition to the film. It, at the very least, padded the movie out a bit. The book gets straight to the point, more or less.

I cannot spoil the ending. It's just too good to do so. I'd feel terrible if I did. I recommend seeing the film or reading the book if you can. The reason the ending is so good is because it shows precisely how God works in reality, despite the story being fictional. And there's one more thing that was the most surprising: Disney made a great Christian film. They just did. It's like running across a unicorn. It may never happen again.

Disney's "The Small One" is available on Amazon Prime for purchase. It's real cheap. I greatly recommend it.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Kings I [Book Review]

"Kings I" is the eleventh book of the "Holy Bible," and it is traditionally believed to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah. Where this book starts off really strong, it quickly falls into chaos of the worst kind.

Initially, we have the story of the son of David, Solomon. He did something amazing. God comes to him in a dream and basically asks him to make any wish. Solomon only asks that he has the wisdom to help his people. God was extremely impressed with that and, not only decides to grant this wish, but He also gives him long life and riches. What Solomon wished for was likely a surprise for God, since the Israelites have a history of... well... being stupid.

And Solomon certainly had wisdom, but it didn't seem to be enough in his old age. After sleeping with a bunch of women who served other gods, he also began to serve them. He even built statues to them, even Molech which is my personal pet peeve. This pretty much is where the book descends into chaos.

"Kings I" is actually a depressing read. Without getting into all the details, the whole world of Israel gets split up between two kings and hardly any of them can seem to stay on the right path. Some out rightly just spend their entire career sinning. There's so much of it that much of the book just writes them off without explaining the details.

The book also introduces a lot of prophets such as Elijah. Many of them live very crappy lives in this world that has mostly turned away from God entirely. Heck, a lot of them are just outright executed for being followers of God.

The thing that really gets me about this is that nobody seems to care about how much God did for them up to this point. They are so ungrateful. People never really change. I see this sort of thing even to this day. The more comfortable people get, the more they sin. It's a vicious cycle that has never really ended since those old times.

I have a hard time recommending this book because of how depressing it is, but it is there for a reason. If anything, it may open your eyes to how shitty most of the people in the world really are. Some things never change.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: People Do Not Become Ghosts

A ghost is an impure spirit that once lived among us but died or was killed. They are not angels, because angels do not die. Ghosts are demons that have spawned from Fallen Angels. They lived among us for a long time and then eventually, for whatever reason, expired.

Demons do not have the birthright of human beings. The birthright I am talking about is a shot as either Heaven or Hell. Our souls are reckoned with God and then we either get to live in or outside of His presence. That is entirely based on our choice. Demons do not have this choice. God would have to intervene on behalf of the demon for the demon to go one way of another.

When a demon dies, their spirit just stays where it is: on Earth. We can't see them, but we can still make contact with them in various ways. A trapped spirit of a demon is what we commonly call a ghost. A ghost is never, ever a deceased human. As stated before, a human's soul immediately travels to be in the presence of God to be reckoned. There is absolutely no reason why they would stay behind. It makes no sense at all.

There have been reports that ghosts seem to be people or family members of the still living. These are demons that are pretending to be something familiar. Why would they do that? Well imagine if you were trapped one plane of existence bellow reality? I imagine they are in a constant state of irritation. A demon might be very jealous of a human who actually gets to choose where he gets to go after he dies.

The very notion that a human can become a ghost after dying is stupid and goes against all we know about how humans exist in relation to god. Christians who believe in human ghosts need to bother researching how all this actually works. I keep running into Christians regularly who believe in these things, and it is all nonsense if you actually do your homework. That's it.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: People Do Not Become Angels

Angels are extremely powerful beings created by God in the beginning. They were not humans, but they probably looked a bit like them. They possibly had wings. There is actually quite a bit of evidence to that, but I don't really know for sure. Some off them ended up on the right side of things, and some of them did not.

The matter, if you can call it matter, that was used to create the angels likely came from the substance found in stars. They are fiery creatures that are perfect in their creation. The things they set out to do, they generally do them without moving to the left or to the right. They tackle the issues of their purpose with hardcore professionalism and skill. They are firmly what they are for their entire existence which is likely eternity.

Humans, contrary to popular belief, do not and have never in history turned into angels. We were made from the dust and water of the Earth. We are nothing like them. Our spirits are incompatible with them. Nothing about what a human is is even remotely similar to what an angel is. We are faulty and sometimes ridiculous creatures that cannot come close to the sheer perfection that makes up what an angel is.

If we were to become an angel, it would strip us of most of what makes us humans. We would give up 99% of our free will and spend eternity locked in a mind-state of absolute perfect angelic existence, which I guarantee no human has ever actually had in all of history. And quite honestly it would be a step down. Humans have a whimsy that angels do not. They don't even understand it. Why would you ever want you or anyone else to turn into a glorified robot?

If a child dies, they do not become angels. That would be horrible. Once a child dies, their spirits are reckoned privately with God, and they either go one way or the other. No matter how much you loved them or miss them, they do not become angels. If they did, the connotations of it would be so awful. They would, for all intense and purposes, be turned into slaves in the afterlife. All the good qualities of them having been humans would be snuffed out and changed into a powerful yet impassionate being of sheer obedience to what he is as a creature.

The very idea of someone dying and becoming an angel just sounds horrible. It means giving up ones ultimate birthright in heaven and being put to work. Being sent to hell actually seems favorable to being transformed into something that we were never meant to be.

The notion is stupid. We were created differently for a different purpose. The angels have their own purpose. They are not us, and we are not them. Angels are immortal servants of God, and if He wills it, they can be our servants too. That's it.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!