T.K. Wade -- Author

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Prayer of Manasses [Book Review]

"Prayer of Manasses" is a very short book found within the "Apocrypha." It was written by King Manasseh.

There honestly isn't a lot to talk about here. This is a very short and rather stock-standard prayer of humility to God. It is only 15 verses long. But to be honest, it is not the shortest book I have read.

The whole idea of this book is humility. It's about kneeling down before god and admitting that you are a sinful, flawed human being. By the end of it, the author is begging for repentance that he does not likely deserve. That's pretty much the whole thing in a nutshell. It isn't a bad book, but it's so limited in theme that there isn't much to say about it.

That said, there's no reason not to read it. It's cool to have something like this as an example of prayer. It even fits in very close to how Jesus advised people to pray. So for that reason, I do recommend it.

This blog was written on June 9, 2022.

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Monday, July 25, 2022

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Maccabees IV [Book Review]

Tired of how the Bible usually reads? Well, here's something that sounds a bit different.

"Maccabees IV" is a book found within the "Apocrypha." It was written by some fellow named Josephus. This book is related to the 2nd book of the previously reviewed "Machabees," in that it covers the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus and the martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons as well as the priest Eleazer, who died first.

The book itself is not preachy like most books but written more like a philosophical lecture, at least by the first of it. It's very eloquently written. By the end of it, it sounds much more passionate as it discusses the mother and what she had to go through. So if you are looking for a book of Scripture that has a different sound to it, you might try giving this one a go.

"Machabees II" was a very gory book that went over how dreadful the deaths of these children and their mother were, but "Maccabees IV" gives you an extreme amount of extra detail. As you read it, you will see in your minds eye what is happening to them. It's horrible. If you are squeamish about torture and gore, then you may not want to read it. It's rough. I mean... it's really rough. This book is as close as you can get to a horror story in Biblical texts.

Life back in those days were so severe. Horrible things could happen to you, perpetrated by your own government. Everything was so public and cruel. I get sick to my stomach just thinking bout it. But I'm no fool. I know all this can happen again.

This book is all about how religious reasoning can be the ultimate defense against the fears, emotions, and passions of the mortal man. It's all about putting aside the world because your soul is the real you. You're on for better things in the next life, so things like pain and death are really secondary.

This book is an interesting read now, but, like I was telling my dad the other day, I think it would be a good book to be read during the upcoming Tribulation. This book will assist in the concepts of martyrdom and the resistance to those who will inevitably go against Christians in the final days. They are going to need this book.

Once again, although I do recommend this book, I don't think someone who cannot stand gory and overly describes horror scenes will be able to deal with some of the long and extreme descriptions this book delivers. You need to understand that the author does not hold back. Consider it a warning before you embark.

This blog was written on June 8, 2022.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Pit and the Pendulum [Short Story Review]

The reason I don't review a lot of Poe stories is because I am not a fan of how he writes. This applies more so to his earlier stories. When I get to the end of them, I don't really feel like writing a review because I don't want to say a story is objectively bad just because of a subjective opinion about how a person writes. But there are some cases that his writing does not really get on my nerves as much, as is the case with this one.

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a story written by Edgar Allan Poe, and it was published in 1842. It is a dark story set in the time of the Inquisition, a period that really does seem to be one that Poe would be inspired by.

Without really spoiling the story, which is quite short, it is really an intense narrative that carefully describes the very horrific circumstances that the protagonist has been placed in. The opening scene is in complete darkness, and that is related surprisingly well. Not an easy thing to do in writing.

The description of the latter mentioned pendulum and how it is presented in the story is very spooky without sounding as if it is supernatural. It all sounds very real but done in a way to take a man's mind out of a reasonable world. It's all about the torture of the mind as a man tries to escape from what constantly appears to be an impossible situation.

One thing that kind of surprised me here was that there was more of a positive ending. I would not call it an outright good ending, but it was higher on the positive scale than I normally see in his stories. But I won't say exactly what happens.

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is easily one of Poe's best works. It's worth your time. I completely recommend it.

This blog was written on June 6, 2022.

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Monday, July 18, 2022

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Maccabees III [Book Review]

"Maccabees III" is a book found within the "Apocrypha." The author is unknown. Yes, this is the third book in line to the previous two books of "Machabees." The difference in spelling comes from the fact that I am reading a different translation. I read the first two books in the "Douay-Rheims Bible," which has different spellings for things. So I just decided to spell the book in the same way it was presented to me. Nothing strange here. Move along.

"Maccabees III" is not a sequel to the other two, but more of a prequel. It's specifically about the persecution of the Jews by Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy IV Philopator, a really nasty guy with a big ego. It all started when he got butthurt about not being allowed to go into the Jewish holy of holies. He goes in anyways and gets tossed around like a ragdoll by the angels guarding it. But he lives and then decides to blame the Jews for it and then treat them like crap.

First of all, the only reason he lived through the ordeal at all was because the Jews prayed to God about it. Second of all, why was he blaming the Jews for what was obviously a supernatural event? The man's an idiot. But idiot or no, he enacts a huge campaign against them comparable to Hitler himself. Now, it doesn't quite end the same way, and there was a very good reason for it: The Jews were very much doing their best to humble themselves before God during this trying time.

Ptolemy very much began to become the puppet of God the more the Jews prayed. He began to act strangely and forget what he was doing. There were even times during his persecution that he would actually vouch for them right before an execution [by drunken elephants] was about to happen. It all became a bit silly. He would set up an execution and right before he was about to commence it, he would act as if he never set the bloody thing up! It was driving his soldiers crazy. They didn't understand what was wrong with him.

Ultimately, he pulled clear out of whatever was making him weird and finally decided to go forward with the executions, but then the angels of Heaven swoop down and attack him and his men. Apparently the Jews were not allowed to see these things, but the soldiers were pretty much able to see that they were fighting supernatural forces. This incident completely changed Ptolemy's mind, and he rescinded his orders against the Jews.

"Maccabees III" is a very entertaining book, and I recommend it. It shows how God will sometimes "puppet" people to make them behave. It also shows that, at times, God will send his own army to fight our battles. I know that does seem a little out there, but actually it did happen in the Bible at least once. I believe it was in the protection of the Prophet Elijah. Either way, everything in this particular book is entirely plausible, and there's no reason to doubt it as far as I can tell. Good stuff.

This blog was written on June 4, 2022.

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Friday, July 15, 2022

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Otters in Space [Book Review]

Don't judge a story by its cover... or its first few chapters.

"Otters in Space" or "Otters in Space: The Search for Cat Havana" is a book written by Mary E. Lowd. It was published in 2012. I bought it quite some time ago, and it just sort of sat in a cardboard box for ages. When I was going through my old unread books to try and whittle down what I had, I ran into this. My roommate told me I should read it because it looked stupid, and so I did. (It wasn't stupid.)

I went into it not knowing much about it, but the title of the book did look like it was going to be a fun and silly ride. Much to my surprise, it actually has a really solid iron-clad narrative for a furry science fiction story.

The story's setup is that the humans have left the planet, leaving the animals in a state of sentience. They aren't fully anthro like the humans were, but they are fully sentient and are running the planet in the human's absence. The dogs have most of the rule and are not getting along with the cats, oppressing them. The cats are constantly trying to get power in the government so that they have more rights.

Now by the second chapter, this is really all you get. It looks like a politics thing, but if you keep on going, the story evolves into other things, and the politics of the beginning get less and less preachy. In fact, it begins to look less black and white. For one, the cats have their own problems that aren't directly addressed in the beginning. Dogs may be overbearing and mean, but they aren't all bad. And cats have a serious ego and laziness problem which keeps them down as a people anyways. So the story really isn't as politically polarized as it seems when the story begins.

The book follows the path of Kipper, a cat, who is trying to find this place she personally refers to as Cat Havana, a place where cats can live away from the rule of the dogs. Along the way, she runs into the otters who have heavily colonized space, and she ends up making friends with them in order to find out where this place is. And beyond this, I don't really wanna spoil anymore because this book is extremely good.

The main thing that blew my mind about this story was that the author did such a wonderful job in capturing the personalities of each species. Cats are prideful and prudish. Dogs are overbearing and severe, but extremely loyal and obedient when under command. Otters are playful and have a love for life and liberty... and water. All these things together form an extremely entertaining story that perfectly bring out who these people are in context to their species.

As fun as the story is, it never seems to get to the point of just outright silly. The author took great care with every aspect of the narrative and the worldbuilding. Everything seems real and plausible. It's not at all what I expected from a book with this title. But the title is still relevant because the otters themselves, their culture and life, are so much fun! I'd love to live with them up in "otter space."

"Otters in Space" is a perfect blend of serious and fun. It's always taken seriously while still giving room to breathe and enjoy yourself. Although it may seem, in the beginning, like the story is moving into a forced political narrative, the story balances itself out flawlessly as it moves forward. I totally recommend it!

This blog was written on June 3, 2022.

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Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Esdras II [Book Review]

Holy crap! This was intense!

"Esdras II" is a book found within the "Apocrypha," and it was written by Esdras himself. We also know him as Ezra, who was the high priest of the temple of Jerusalem when they were allowed to return.

So the first book basically lays the groundwork for who Esdras is and why he is worthy to be involved in this second book. He ends up being approached by an archangel named Uriel who... pretty much treats him like crap. But only verbally! Uriel is there to tell Esdras about the end times. Yes, the same stuff John of Patmos was told about in "Revelations." This is the same thing happening but in the Old Testament.

Esdras is constantly belittled and told that he cannot possibly understand the big things if he cannot understand the small things. The problem about these "small things" is that they are huge things that angels understand perfectly well. The conversation can only go so far before Uriel doesn't want to talk anymore until Esdras can spend a week purifying and humbling himself.

Over time, Uriel warms up to Esdras and it a bit nicer... relatively. The relationship between the two are pretty intense, and at times it may seem unfair. The whole point of why God is even bothering with Esdras is because this man is actually a pretty awesome guy who respects the laws and commandments of God with perfection. But with great humility comes tests and temptation from God, and so Esdras is treated pretty badly in order to see if he stays humble through the full encounter.

One annoying thing is that the Jews keep accusing Esdras of abandoning them while he is on this journey. At first, Esdras just tells them to go away. Later on, he promises them that he is fine and things are going to be okay. I can imagine how stressful this whole thing with Uriel must have been, but I am glad he was taking his role as high priest so seriously.

The book goes into a lot of details we saw in "Revelations." They even talk about Jesus in this book, although he is simply called Christ the Son of God. But probably the most shocking thing was the vision of the "eagle with many wings." This is a dream interpreted by Uriel about the United States of America. I'm not just assuming that because of the eagle thing. The raw description of the interpretation is really just describing modern US. That blew me away and made me tear up a little.

If the book is true, America goes through different phases. It loses everything it gains, then gets it all back. But then it will inevitably lose it all for good when God turns on us. It's sad, but I'm not entirely sure where we are in that timeline. It's frightening to think that we are sitting right in the middle of a prophecy.

The book may suggest at the end that Ezra was not allowed to die. It's a little bit cryptic, but it sounded like God really liked Ezra. He wanted Ezra to write this book first. He gave him a cup that, when drunk, would fill him with all the energy he needs to finish the book, and then it sounded like he was going to send him on his way. Don't quote me on this though. It was written in a way that made it not very clear, but it's a possibility.

Interested in a second perspective on "Revelations?" Then I recommend "Esdras II!" It doesn't really conflict with "Revelations" at all, but there's more of an intensity to it. It's direct and harsh with less confusing imagery. All the bizarre stuff shown in "Esdras II" is interpreted by the angel. Please give this one a go. It's extremely good, and I have no idea why nobody ever talks about this one.

This blog was written on June 1, 2022.

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Monday, July 11, 2022

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Scalawagons of Oz [Book Review]

[Contains spoilers for a book nobody reads anymore.]

"The Scalawagons of Oz" is the thirty-fifth book of the Oz series started by L. Frank Baum. It was written by John R. Neill, and it was published in 1941. Yes, I have read all of the Oz books up to this point. Holy crap.

Once again, John gives us a living, breathing cartoon world version of Oz which does not match what came before his own works. They are a welcome addition, to me anyways. It never seemed very popular with the mainstream Ozians.

In this book, the Wizard creates a factory that makes sentient cars in order to further bring the fairy nation into a more modern era. Funny how he started off with airplanes first, yeah? These cars are called scalawagons, and I know what you're thinking: It sounds like scalawag. That may have been the root word of the name, but the cars themselves have no resemblance to what that word means. They're just vehicles.

The villain of this story is a bit hard to explain, but I liked him. For most of the story he was called a "Rubber Ghost," but he was later identified as something called a "Bell-Snickle." He's a sneaky, creepy, slinky, crawly sort of villain whose greatest desire is to remain a mystery. I liked him. He brought a lot of villainous humor to the story.

There was also the woefully problematic Mifkit, which had trouble being nice. Ozma tries to reform him by giving him work to do, but he would always over do it and it would annoy everyone. I thought he was cute! They remind me a little of Shawn O' Toole's Dinky race from his "Strange Galaxy" books. (Hi, Shawn!)

One of John Neill's problems is he writes like he has a distraction problem. His stories constantly jump around like a dog who keeps seeing random squirrels. Funny enough though, it doesn't really harm the story very much. Even though the story jumps around madly, the content of those side-steps are really enjoyable and a lot of fun to read. I like it!

I really like how Oz has been modernizing but in a Fairyland sort of way. Those scalawagons almost entirely drive themselves. There is even a LUNCH button on the console that gives the driver free food as many times as he wants. And since the car is sentient, you can eat while it drives for you.

And what is a story about cars without a chase scene?! Yes, "The Scalawagons of Oz" has a wonderful and exciting chase scene in it, and I enjoyed every moment of it. This story pretty much had it all, and I loved it.

I absolutely recommend "The Scalawagons of Oz." Although the story doesn't always seem to know where it wants to go, it still goes, and where it goes, the fun never stops. It's a great story, and I look forward to reading more by this author.

This blog was written on May 25, 2022.

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