Windhaven

My next stop on the George R.R. Martin express was a book he co-authored with Lisa Tuttle back in 1981 entitled Windhaven. I have been continually amazed with each book that I have read in Martin's oeuvre with how broad his reach is and how complete his mastery is of his craft no matter where his compass points. Medieval literature, fantasy, science fiction, pop culture character driven plots, he makes it all seem effortless and organic. Nothing comes across as labored or forced. My opinion of Martin was only enhanced after my time with Windhaven.

In this story, we visit a world covered in vast oceans. The inhabitants, long ago descendants of Earth, live among a group of islands. On a level equal to the rulers of the people are the flyers. Individuals who don the silver skinned wings that were once part of the great solar sails of the space ships, carry news and vital communications from island to island. For untold generations, the wings have been kept within families and passed down from parents to children. The great flyers are revered in song and story long after they have taken their last flights.

Like many children, Maris is enthralled by the flyers. Larger than life heroes who fill her dreams at night. One day she wanders away from her mother to watch a flyer as he lands on a beach near her home. The flyer, who has no children of his own, literally takes young Maris under his wings and teaches her how to fly. However, one day several years later, the flyer and his wife are able to have a child of their own and Maris knows that when young Coll comes of age, she will lose her wings to him. However, Coll has no desire to fly despite the generations of tradition. Maris then tries to convince the tradition-bound flyers that the wings should not be kept within families, but awarded to the best flyers in annual competitions.

The story of Windhaven follows Maris for the rest of her life as she rises to great heights to shed her outsider and outcast label and then ultimately falls to the lowest of lows when she loses herself along the way. Ultimately, her friends help her to find herself and regain her strength and her love for adventure and life. A sweet story with a laid-back pacing that served to give rise to a touching poignancy and a few tears along the way.

Quick Hits 41

Sometimes I hear an utterance or catch a quick visual of something that sticks in my mind. As this sensory input rolls about in my head, several different outcomes are possible. It might be the case that after a moment of consideration, the input is deleted as uninteresting, trivial, or too much for me to deal with. However, another possible outcome is that the input keeps demanding my attention. It somehow wants me to wrestle with it and give it more than just a passing notice. In such cases, they can end up here, in my blog series called Quick Hits.

Have you ever connected with someone from your past that you were once close with but the relationship ended in ugliness and harsh words? Is it healthier to deal with the past and its issues or just work to build a conflict-free path moving forward?

What do you think?

Observations 100

My occasional blog series "Observations" was created to be an outlet to share a variety of topics that pop into my field of view as a result of a condition that many bloggers are afflicted with known as "blogger's eyes". In this state we view the world on the constant look-out for topics on which to write about. Today's blog came about from random odds 'n ends of things that I have noticed over the past few weeks.

• I think that it should be mandatory state law that if you exercise at lunch time you MUST take a shower before returning to work.
  
• The man on the radio told me in no uncertain terms that it was inappropriate to eat a donut with a fork.
  
• Christians often say that they can't wait to get to heaven to ask Jesus the reason for the deep-seated issues that they faced in life. I can almost picture Jesus looking them in the eye and telling them, "Hey, you just got kabobbled."
  
• A colleague of mine described the characteristics of a world-famous scientist as "Obnoxious and very talented." I piped up, "Well as least I have one of those qualities." He replied (far too quickly), "No, you are not obnoxious, you're just mildly annoying."
  
• One of the best things to hear from your child is "Daddy please come quickly I'm in trouble." One of the worst things to hear is "Daddy please come quickly I'm in trouble."
  

iTunes Latest - 28

I have been a user of iTunes since 2011. This service has allowed me to bring music back into my world and to reconnect with so many great songs from my past and to find some great new recent stuff as well. One of the things that I really like about music is how it becomes part of the soundtrack of the different seasons of our lives. So, I thought that I would share my latest five downloads and a bit about my thoughts on each song.

• You Make Me Brave - Bethel Music (2015) - This is a song that speaks to me and inspires me ...You call me out beyond the shore into the waves ... A great praise song whose lyrics paint a wonderful and vibrant portrait.
  
• How Much is Enough - The Fixx (1991) - Some might think the album Ink is the nadir of this band. However, this tune is spunky and poignant. How much do we need when our horded treasures are already pulling us under and tearing our ship apart? A prototypical song by this band that will have you singing out the chorus before you know it.
  
• Ordinary - Honeymoon Suite (2008) - I have been a fan of this band since they hit big in the 80s. They have only had a few releases since then, stretched few and far between. This ballad from their last album is a piece of longing, of not wanting to settle for the usual, the same-old same-old. Man, it has to be out there somewhere, doesn't it?
  
• Magic Man - Heart (2012) - Magic Man is a release from the 1970s and it one of the classic rockers from the Wilson sisters. However,
  on their retrospective release Strange Euphoria from a few years ago, they included a demo version of this tune. Wow can Ann Wilson sing and she makes this song all her own. Absolutely stunning.
  
• Until the End of Time - Foreigner (1995) - In the late 1970s, this band was one of the biggest in the world. They absolutely dominated FM radio. The market eventually pushed them to the back burner and they struggled to develop a style and maintain an audience. Their lead singer had health problems and had to step away for a time. This song was from the ill-received 1994 album Mr. Moonlight, but is a haunting and lovely gem that holds it own in message, in tune, and in time.
  

Lessons in Geometry

I believe that I have been wrong.

Well that would be a first, or at least the first time that you admitted it.

Please I'm serious.

... me too ...

I used to think that, you and I, well, we were diametrically opposed on some important issues.

Yeah, so?

I really came to think that I was right and you were nuts.

You mean that you were right and I was wrong?

Yeah, what did I say?

Never mind. What's your point?

Maybe we were truly on opposite ends of a diameter, but we were focused on the same center looking at it from different perspectives.

And?

And? Well I have come to realize that considering a situation from different points of view can be valuable.

Valuable?

Valuable to learn more about the problem, to complement each other with what we bring to the issue. Valuable to gain further insight into each other.

You're supposed to be so smart. What took you so long to figure this out?

I'm not sure, perhaps I just wandered off on a tangent.

Was that a nerd joke?

Perhaps ...

Never Knew Another

Sometimes I just stumble across a book when I am minding my own business. Never Knew Another by J.M. McDermott was such an example. A bit weird, a bit uneven, a bit crude and unpolished, but somehow all of these qualities and each of these descriptors gave rise to something greater than its technique and its roughness. A story about two approaches to life, one open and take things as they come. The other closed and fearful. A story about two hunted souls with shameful and despised roots who didn't know there were others like them. Somehow they found each other and brought a kindred mind and a brief respite from their troubles.

In a world where demons taint the land and spread their infectious evil, they are hunted by priests tasked with their elimination. History has known such abominations as despicable, wicked beings that must be eradicated. Yet not all demon children fit the stereotype and the lore. Two such souls are Rachel and Jona. Rachel is the child of a demon who has spent her life running from the priests that would burn her at the stake. She is protected by her brother Djoss who has sworn his spirit to hers. They are both broken weary souls who are trying to make a life for themselves in Dogsland, living in a squalid hovel. Rachel working as a maid in a seedy, low-end brothel. Djoss working as a bouncer and a smuggler. Rachel has spent her life jumping at shadows that have always sought her blood. Jona is the son of a lord whose wealth was stripped from him when he was discovered to carry the demon's taint. Jona works for the king's guard and lives a hard and thankless life as an enforcer and a pawn. However, he has always gone about living despite the risk of being found out.

Eventually the paths of Rachel and Jona come together and they take their first tentative steps to opening up their well of secrets to each other. Their shared burdens making their loads lighter for a time. An interesting story with a deft touch at world building and a wholly effective narrative that brings home the squalor and the desperation of people who must do what it takes to survive. I will ultimately get to the second book in the Dogsland trilogy, When We Were Executioners.

Satisfied Mind

According to the averages, we each get about 25,000 days to do our thing. To come and go. To wake and sleep. To give or take. As folks near their ends there can often be a fair amount of regret over opportunities that were lost, that got away, that were passed up, or that were frittered away. For many they must face the fact that they wasted a fair number of their sunrises frowning when they could have smiled, crying when joy was just around the bend, or going through the motions and merely marking time when their imaginations flagged. I can already recognize that pain and that regret building looking at the chances that I have let past, that I smugly eschewed focused on trivialities that just didn't matter. It hurts all the more realizing that I could have lived my life so much better than I have. I could have lived a best seller. Instead I too often settled for living a penny saver.

Every now and then though I live a day where I make the absolute most of every minute. It is not just that I am busy and my mind is occupied, it is that I am doing something that I like with someone I love. Over the past few years the number of days like this that I have lived could be counted on the fingers of one hand. However, if I am still and think back over those days, their spell can still engulf me with feelings of being absolutely alive, of living with a satisfied mind. Those days can't effectively be planned or predicted, but with just a bit more effort, I wonder if I couldn't live a few more than I might otherwise have ...